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European Case Law

Court of Justice (Seventh Chamber), 14 April 2016, in case C‑480/15 P (KS Sports IPCo GmbH v. EUIPO and Alex Toys LLC)

Regulation (EC) No 207/2009  — Article 8(1)(b) — Likelihood of confusion — Similarity between products

The existence of a simplified form and a reduced size for “children’s educational and developmental activity toys” makes it possible precisely to distinguish them from “sporting articles”’, and in the assessment of similarity between products, the fact that two products may, to a certain extent, satisfy the same need does not prevent the relevant consumer from perceiving them as two distinct products.
The existence of an area of overlap between two categories of goods with essentially different purposes does not mean that all the goods concerned by those categories of goods are similar; the fact that one purpose does not exclude another purpose and that both purposes may be “interconnected” in a product, and does not rule out the possibility of identifying a primary purpose of a product, and that “use” means the generally intended use of the product and not any diverted or occasional use.


categoria:European Case Law