In Case T-115/12, the General Court confirmed the OHIM decision regarding a conflict between CTM application for the word mark ROCA for goods in Class 3 and earlier Spanish and CTM figurative marks   and  registered in Class 21.

The Opposition Division upheld partly the opposition finding there is a likelihood of confusion between “perfumed oils”, “deodorant sprays” and earlier protected goods “perfume sprays and cologne”.

The Opponent appealed before the Board of Appeal which upheld the opposition for all the contested goods based on the earlier Spanish mark. In particular it held that the average consumer is the relevant public. Regarding the comparison of goods, there is a medium degree of similarity between the earlier goods “sponges and brushes” and the rest of the contested goods in Class 3 in particular “cleaning products”. Even though bearing different nature due to the different method of manufacturing and composition, they are complementary because they all have a general cleaning function.

Regarding the signs, they are highly similar, in particular for the Spanish speaking public for whom the signs both refer to the concept of “rock”. Further, the earlier mark has an average degree of distinctiveness for “brushes and sponges”.

Therefore, according to the principle of interdependence of the factors, there is a risk of likelihood of association due to the high similarity of the signs and some similarity between the goods.