Orders nº T-807/16 DEP of Tribunal General de la Unión Europea, January 13, 2021

• Resolution Date: January 13, 2021
• Issuing Organization: Tribunal General de la Unión Europea
• Decision Number: T-807/16 DEP

(Procedure - Taxation of costs)

In Case T-807/16 DEP,

MIP Metro Group Intellectual Property GmbH & Co. KG, established in Düsseldorf (Germany), represented by J.-C. Plate and R. Kaase, lawyers,

applicant,

v

European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO),

defendant,

the other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of EUIPO, intervener before the General Court, being

Association française de normalisation (AFNOR), established in La Plaine Saint-Denis (France), represented by B. Fontaine, lawyer,

APPLICATION for taxation of costs to be reimbursed by the applicant to the intervener following the judgment of 7 June 2018, MIP Metro v EUIPO - AFNOR (N & NF TRADING) (T-807/16, not published, EU:T:2018:337),

THE GENERAL COURT (Fourth Chamber),

composed of S. Gervasoni (Rapporteur), President, L. Madise and P. Nihoul, Judges,

Registrar: E. Coulon,

makes the following

Order

Facts, procedure and forms of order sought

1 By an application lodged at the Court Registry on 17 November 2016, the applicant, MIP Metro Group Intellectual Property GmbH & Co. KG, brought an action for annulment of the decision of the First Board of Appeal of EUIPO of 14 July 2016 (Case R 1109/2015-1). That decision concerned opposition proceedings between the applicant and the intervener, the Association française de normalisation (the French standardisation authority, AFNOR).

2 On 24 March 2017, the intervener lodged a response in support of EUIPO, claiming that the action should be dismissed and that the applicant should be ordered to pay the costs.

3 On 24 January 2018, the parties presented oral arguments at a hearing.

4 By judgment of 7 June 2018, MIP Metro v EUIPO - AFNOR (N & NF TRADING) (T-807/16, not published, EU:T:2018:337), the Court dismissed the action and ordered the applicant to pay the costs.

5 By e-mail of 4 March 2019, sent to the applicant’s lawyers, the intervener, inter alia, asked the applicant to settle its costs in the sum of EUR 13 798.35 for the proceedings which gave rise to the judgment of 7 June 2018, MIP Metro v EUIPO - AFNOR (N & NF TRADING) (T-807/16, not published, EU:T:2018:337).

6 By e-mail of 20 March 2019, the applicant rejected the intervener’s request referred to in paragraph 5 above without indicating the amount of costs which it was prepared to pay, and invited the applicant to refer the matter to the Court.

7 On 17 August 2020, the intervener lodged an application for taxation of costs under Article 170(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the General Court. By that application, the intervener asks the Court to fix the amount of recoverable costs to be reimbursed by the applicant at EUR 15 593.27 for the proceedings which gave rise to the judgment of 7 June 2018, MIP Metro v EUIPO - AFNOR (N & NF TRADING) (T-807/16, not published, EU:T:2018:337) and for the present taxation of costs proceedings. It states that that amount corresponds, first, to the lawyers’ fees in the main proceedings before the Court, second, to the lawyers’ travel and subsistence expenses for the purposes of the hearing and, third, to the costs incurred in the present taxation of costs proceedings.

8 By written submission lodged at the Court Registry on 10 November 2020, the applicant asked the Court to fix the amount of the recoverable costs at a level significantly lower than EUR 15 593.27.

Law

9 In accordance with Article 170(3) of the Rules of Procedure, if there is a dispute concerning the costs to be recovered, at the request of the interested party, the Court is to give its decision by way of an order from which no appeal may lie, after giving the party concerned by the application an opportunity to submit its observations.

10 According to Article 140(b) of the Rules of Procedure, the expenses necessarily incurred by the parties for the purposes of the proceedings, in particular...