Official Journal of the European Union

C 114/15

(Case C-561/11) (<span class="super">1</span>)

(Community trade marks - Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 - Article 9(1) - Concept of ‘third party’ - Proprietor of a later Community trade mark)

2013/C 114/21

Language of the case: Spanish

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Fédération Cynologique Internationale

Defendant: Federación Canina Internacional de Perros de Pura Raza

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Juzgado de lo Mercantil de Alicante — Interpretation of Council Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 of 26 February 2009 on the Community trade mark (OJ 2009 L 78, p. 1) — Infringement or threat of infringement of a Community trade mark — Exclusive right conferred by a Community trade mark — Meaning of third party

Operative part of the judgment

Article 9(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 of 26 February 2009 on the Community trade mark must be interpreted as meaning that the exclusive right of the proprietor of a Community trade mark to prohibit all third parties from using, in the course of trade, signs identical with or similar to its trade mark extends to a third-party proprietor of a later registered Community trade mark, without the need for that latter mark to have been declared invalid beforehand.

* Language of the case: Spanish.

(1) OJ C 25, 28.1.2012.