Oud auteursrecht en nationale auteurswet door OHIM verkeerd begrepen

Gerecht EU 30 juni 2015, IEFbe 1402; T-404/10 RENV ((National Lottery Commission / OHMI - Mediatek Italia en De Gregorio (Représentation d'une main))
Gemeenschapsmerk. In Renvoi. Eerder IEF 11779 (C): Een lachende hand waarbij Italiaans auteursrecht niet voldoende werd erkend. Ouder nationaal auteursrecht. Het gemeenschapsbeeldmerk bestaat uit een hand met twee gekruiste vingers en een lachend gezicht. De Kamer van Beroep heeft het nationale Italiaanse auteursrecht verkeerd geïnterpreteerd, deze fout heeft effect op de beslissing gehad. De beslissing wordt vernietigd, het merk is geldig.

53      On the other hand, although it is true, as has already been pointed out in paragraph 49 above, that the Board of Appeal responded to the applicant’s argument based on the existence of certain anomalies in the 1986 Agreement, the fact remains that that analysis of the Board of Appeal was based on the false premiss that the 1986 Agreement constituted ‘conclusive evidence of the provenance of the statements of the parties to it, pending the introduction of proceedings challenging it as a fraud’ (paragraph 30 of the contested decision) and that its assessment could relate only to the content of that agreement. Therefore, it cannot be excluded that the Board of Appeal would have reached a different conclusion if it had favoured a broader interpretation of its powers.

54      In the light of the above, it must be concluded that, in finding that the applicants for a declaration of invalidity had shown the existence of an earlier right, the Board of Appeal based its approach on a misinterpretation of the national law governing its protection and that that error may have had an effect on the content of the contested decision.