‘In an application for a declaration of invalidity of a Community trade mark, where the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (“OHIM”) was called upon to take account of the national law of the member state in which protection was given to an earlier mark on which the application was based, OHIM had to, of its own motion and by whatever means considered appropriate, obtain information about that national law, where such information was necessary for the purposes of assessing the applicability of a ground for invalidity relied on before it and of assessing the accuracy of the facts adduced or the probative value of the documents submitted.’
WLR Daily, 27th March 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
