TRADEMARK | The CJEU on the absence of a deadline for invalidity claim based on bad faith

On 10 July 2025, the European Court of Justice (the CJEU) handed down its decision in case C‑322/24 (Sánchez Romero Carvajal Jabugo S.A.U. v. Embutidos Monells S.A.) concerning an application for a declaration of invalidity of two registered national trademarks due to the proprietor’s bad faith of the later trademark. The CJEU stated that bad faith on the part of the applicant when filing an application for registration of a trademark constitutes an absolute ground for the invalidity of a registered trademark, as is apparent from Article 3(2)(d) of Directive 2008/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2008 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trademarks (the Directive) and from the case law of the Court. Furthermore, the CJEU noted that, since one condition for the five-year acquiescence period under Article 9(1) of the Directive to begin is that the proprietor of the later trademark filed the application in good faith, a proprietor who filed in bad faith cannot validly rely on acquiescence limitations against the proprietor of the earlier trademark to prevent an action for the invalidity of the latter registered trademark.

Newsletter n. 110 – August/September 2025