Official Journal of the European Union

C 129/4

(Case C-91/09)

2009/C 129/06

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Eis.de GmbH

Defendant: BBY Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH

Question referred

Is there use for the purposes of Article 5(1)(a) of Directive 89/104/EEC where a third party provides as a keyword to a search engine operator a sign which is identical with a trade mark, without the consent of the proprietor of that trade mark, so that, on inputting the sign identical with the trade mark as a search term into the search engine, an electronic promotional link to the third party’s website advertising identical goods or services appears in an advertising block set apart from the list of search results, that link is marked as a sponsored link and the advertisement itself does not comprise the sign nor contain any reference to the trade mark proprietor or to the products it is offering for sale?

First Council Directive 89/104/EEC of 21 December 1988 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks (OJ 1989 L 40 of 11.2.1989, p. 1).