General Court of the European Union – new Rules of Procedure*)
On 1 July 2015, new Rules of Procedure of the General Court (formerly: Court of First Instance) entered into force. These can be found here.
The General Court hears all applications against decisions of the Boards of Appeal of OHIM issuing over 200 judgments per year (in 2014: 275) in CTM and Community design cases (to which the Court jointly refers as Intellectual Property cases). As such, it is an important instance for trademark and design law in the EU.
The new Rules of Procedure introduce many changes to the procedure in IP cases, the following four of which are of greatest practical significance.
1. The language of proceedings in inter partes cases (oppositions and cancellations) is that chosen by the applicant (who filed the application to the Court), or, if the other party objects (which is frequent), that of the contested decision of the Boards of Appeal (Art. 45(4)). Formerly, the default language was the first language of the CTM application at issue, which led to many cases being heard in languages other than the five OHIM languages. The new rule will give even greater predominance to English than to date, as 65% of OHIM’s Board of Appeal decisions are in that language, followed by German, with 20%.
2. There will no longer be a second round of written submissions, as replies and rejoinders are abolished (Art. 181). The applicant will only get another chance to make a written statement if the defendant or the intervener files a cross-claim.
3. Any cross-claim must be filed in a document separate from the response to the application (Art. 182 et seq.). The applicant, who is allowed to respond to the cross-claim, may only address issues raised by the cross-claim.
4. Oral hearings will only be ordered if the parties so request. The time limit within which the request must be filed is three weeks from being notified that the written procedure is closed (formerly four weeks) (Art. 106).
The first two changes (language and no replies or rejoinders) take effect only for cases brought after the entry into force of the new Rules of Procedure. The new time limit for the request for oral hearings must be observed in all cases where the written part of the procedure is closed after that date, i.e. after 1 July 2015.
Lawyers who litigate cases before the General Court will have to get acquainted quickly with the new provisions and their different numbering and placement in the Rules of Procedure.
*) Reproduction of article first appeared in the INTA Bulletin, August 1, 2015 Vol. 70 No. 14, with the permission of INTA.