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EXACT in General Court
In Case T-228/13, NIIT Technologies Ltd applied for registration of the word mark EXACT in Classes 9, 16 and 42 related to mainly various IT goods and services.
OHIM’s examiners
rejected the application for the entire classes 9 and 42, and class 16 in part,
holding that for the products and services at issue , the mark applied for is
descriptive and devoid of distinctive character, at least for English-speaking
consumers, among which are both professionals and the general public. These
consumers understand the word " exact" , which is not accompanied by
additional creative or unusual items, as referring to the idea of precision
and accuracy and thus as providing direct and
immediate information on the quality products and services at issue . Consumers
will choose those goods or services on the basis of quality conferred on them,
run or made with all the precision and accuracy required . In
particular, as regards the goods in Class 9 and services in Class 42, the
precision and accuracy are inherent in their technical , scientific or
computer-related .
The General Court
confirmed the BoA’s decision. Further, it rejected the applicant’s arguments invoking
earlier similar registered trademarks, regarding a violation of fair trial and
equal treatment holding that according to well-established case-law, Article 6
of the ECHR is not applicable to the proceedings before the Boards of appeal,
which is administrative, and not judicial. Moreover, the GC rejected the
argument regarding the violation of Article 56 TFEU, on an alleged limitation
on free competition. On the contrary, OHIM’s role is to verify that a sign
complies with the CTMR, and aims at guaranteeing free competition by avoiding
granting monopolies on words.
Tags: General Court, absolute grounds, exact, IT,



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