Ares Performance AG v. Ferrari S.p.A.
European Union Intellectual Property Office, Cancellation Division
C 30 743 (2018)
- Written by Kelli Lanski, JD
Facts
Ferrari S.p.A. (defendant) had a registered trademark in the shape of one of its luxury cars, the GTO model. Ferrari registered the mark in 2008. In 2018, Ares Performance AG (plaintiff) sought to have Ferrari’s trademark revoked, including relating to vehicles, clothes, and toys reflecting the GTO shape. Under European Union trademark law, Ferrari was required to show that it had engaged in genuine use of the mark during the preceding five-year period, from 2013 to 2018. As to the car design itself, Ferrari presented evidence that although it had produced only 39 GTO cars in the early 1960s, all of those cars were still in existence. Ares Performance AG argued that because the GTO model was last manufactured in the 1960s, Ferrari could not show genuine use in the past five years. Ferrari’s evidence of genuine use of the mark on toy or collectible GTOs and on clothing printed with the mark included receipts for recent sales of model replicas of the GTO as well as printouts from the Ferrari webstore advertising clothing items with pictures of the GTO on them.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning ()
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