General Court Declines To Spare Lancôme's Blushe(r)s

If ever there was a time when make-up was required to hide the red faces at one of the world's largest cosmetic companies, then following the handing down of the decision in T-204/10 would have been it!  Perhaps now Lancôme will 'focus' on some other brand names, or perhaps they will simply bide their time and look to get their revenge.

Background facts

This appeal to the General Court was one of a number of spats between Lancôme and Focus Magazin, a German publishing house (amongst other things).  A previous decision (Case T-466/08) had also gone against Lancôme (using the same formidable legal team), so why they perhaps thought their luck would change only they would know.

On 17^th January 1997, Focus Magazin applied to register the mark 'FOCUS' for a whole raft of goods and services, including 'make-up, cosmetics'.  In fact, a large number of businesses brought opposition proceedings, and as a result, the mark was not formally registered until 26^th August