The Court of First Instance gave its ruling today in Case T‑160/07, Lancôme parfums et beauté & Cie SNC v OHIM, CMS Hasche Sigle. This decision is at present available only in French. Lancôme secured the registration of the words COLOR EDITION as a Community trade mark for cosmetic products in Class 3. An application was subsequently made by a law firm, Norton Rose Vieregge, for cancellation of the mark on the grounds that it was descriptive and lacked distinctive character. The Cancellation Division dismissed the application for the declaration of invalidity. CMS Hasche Sigle subsequently took over from Norton Rose Vieregge and appealed against this decision. The Board of Appeal overturned the decision of the Cancellation Division, whereupon Lancôme appealed to the Court of First Instance on the basis that the Board of Appeal erred under Article 55(1) of Council Regulation 40/94 when it held that CMS Hasche Sigle was entitled to bring an application for a declaration of invalidity.

This morning the Court of First Instance dismissed Lancôme's appeal. Under Article 55(1) an application to cancel a mark could be made by "any natural or legal person and any group or body set up for the purpose of representing the interests of manufacturers, producers, suppliers of services, traders or consumers, which under the terms of the law governing it has the capacity in its own name to sue and be sued". This category included the law firm in this case, even though it was not a competitor of Lancôme in the cosmetics business and did not deal with such goods.