The General Court issued its ruling today in Case T‑148/08, Beifa Group Co. Ltd v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market, Schwan-Stabilo Schwanhaüßer GmbH & Co. KG. This was an appeal against an OHIM Board of Appeal's decision to uphold the Cancellation Division's ruling that the Community registered design depicted above was invalid since its use could be prevented by the earlier German trade mark depicted on the right.

The decision of the Board of Appeal was annulled: both it and the Cancellation Division had proceeded on the basis that the earlier mark was a three-dimensional trade mark, the shape of which could be found in Beifa's design, whereas it was a regular two dimensional figurative mark.