General Court (Fourth Chamber) 16 September 2004, T-342/02 (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Lion Corp. v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM).)

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In opposition proceedings under Regulation No 40/94, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Lion Corp. challenged a Board of Appeal decision declaring its appeal inadmissible on the ground that the Opposition Division's decision—which upheld the opposition in full but declined to examine certain earlier national marks (Austria, Greece, United Kingdom) and a pending Community trade mark application—did not adversely affect it within the meaning of Article 58 of Regulation No 40/94. The decisive legal issue was whether the opponent had a vested and present interest in having the opposition decided on the basis of all earlier rights invoked, given the theoretical risk that the applicant could convert its refused Community trade mark application into national applications in those Member States where the earlier rights were not examined. The Court of First Instance held that the interest relied upon concerned a future and uncertain legal situation—since conversion is optional and does not guarantee national registration—and that the Opposition Division was under no obligation to examine all earlier rights once the opposition could be upheld on other grounds, thereby dismissing the action and ordering the applicant to pay costs.AI