General Court (Third Chamber) 13 June 2012, T‑277/11 (Hotel Reservation Service Robert Ragge GmbH v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs).)

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The General Court (Third Chamber) dismissed an action brought by Hotel Reservation Service Robert Ragge GmbH against the First Board of Appeal of OHIM's decision upholding an opposition to the registration of the Community word mark 'iHotel' based on the earlier Community figurative mark 'i-hotel' owned by Promotora Imperial SA. The decisive legal issue was whether a likelihood of confusion existed between the two marks under Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009, which prohibits registration of a mark where, due to its identity or similarity to an earlier mark and the identity or similarity of the goods or services covered, there exists a likelihood of confusion on the part of the public. The Court dismissed the action in its entirety and ordered the applicant to bear its own costs and those incurred by OHIM.AI