Orders nº T-748/18 of Tribunal General de la Unión Europea, September 18, 2019

• Resolution Date: September 18, 2019
• Issuing Organization: Tribunal General de la Unión Europea
• Decision Number: T-748/18

(Community design - Registered Community design representing pneumatic power tools - Invalidity proceedings -- Intervention by the other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal - Expiry of the time limit within which to intervene under Article 173 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Court - Refusal to grant leave to intervene under that provision - Application, in the alternative, for leave to intervene under Article 143 of the Rules of Procedure made within the time limit - Whether permissible)

In Case T-748/18,

Glimarpol sp. z o.o., established in Bytom (Poland), represented by M. Kondrat, lawyer,

applicant,

v

European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), represented by A. Folliard-Monguiral and H. O’Neill, acting as Agents,

defendant,

the other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of EUIPO being

Metar sp. z o.o., established in Gliwice (Poland),

ACTION brought against the decision of the Third Board of Appeal of EUIPO of 4 October 2018 (Case R 1615/2017-3), relating to invalidity proceedings between Metar and Glimarpol,

THE GENERAL COURT (Sixth Chamber),

composed of G. Berardis, President, D. Spielmann (Rapporteur) and Z. Csehi, Judges,

Registrar: E. Coulon,

having regard to the application lodged at the Court Registry on 21 December 2018,

having regard to the response lodged at the Court Registry on 11 March 2019,

makes the following

Order

Facts and procedure

1 The applicant, Glimarpol sp. z o.o., is the proprietor of the Community design filed with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and registered under number 2125435-0001, pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 of 12 December 2001 on Community designs (OJ 2002 L 3, p. 1), for products defined as ‘pneumatic power tools’.

2 On 16 May 2016, Metar sp. z o.o. filed, pursuant to Article 52 of Regulation No 6/2002, an application for a declaration of invalidity of the contested design, based on Article 25(1)(b) of Regulation No 6/2002.

3 Since the application for a declaration of invalidity was allowed by the Cancellation Division on 22 May 2017, the applicant filed a notice of appeal with EUIPO, pursuant to Articles 55 to 60 of Regulation No 6/2002, against the decision of the Cancellation Division.

4 By decision of 4 October 2018, the Third Board of Appeal of EUIPO dismissed the appeal.

5 By application lodged at the Court Registry on 21 December 2018, the applicant brought the present action for annulment of the decision of the Board of Appeal.

6 In accordance with Article 178(3) of the Rules of Procedure of the General Court, the application was served on Metar by letter from the Registrar of the General Court of 16 January 2019.

7 In the present case, the period within which Metar was required to submit a response, referred to in...