Court of Justice of the European Communities (including Court of First Instance Decisions)

ORDER OF THE GENERAL COURT (First Chamber)

28 December 2015 (1)

(Community trade mark — Opposition proceedings — Withdrawal of the opposition — No need to adjudicate)

In Case T-797/14,

Skype Ultd, established in Dublin (Ireland), represented by A. Carboni and M. Browne, Solicitors,

applicant,

v

Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM), represented by P. Bullock, acting as Agent,

defendant,

the other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of OHIM, intervener before the General Court, being

Sky International AG, established in Zug (Switzerland), represented by D. Rose and J. Curry, Solicitors,

ACTION brought against the decision of the Fourth Board of Appeal of OHIM of 29 September 2014 (Case R 1075/2013‑4), relating to opposition proceedings between Sky International AG and Skype,

THE GENERAL COURT (First Chamber),

composed of H. Kanninen, President, I. Pelikánová (Rapporteur) and E. Buttigieg, Judges,

Registrar: E. Coulon,

makes the following

Order

1        By letter lodged at the Court Registry on 30 October 2015, the applicant and the intervener jointly informed the Court of an agreement between themselves and that, pursuant to that agreement, the intervener has withdrawn its opposition to the application for registration of the contested mark. They consequently requested that the Court declares that the action is devoid of purpose and that there is no longer any need to adjudicate on it, in accordance with Article 131 of the Rules of Procedure. They did not seek an order as to costs.

2        By letter lodged at the Court Registry on 9 November 2015, the defendant informed the Court that it raises no objection to the case being declared devoid of purpose. The defendant requests the Court not to order it to bear the costs as this situation is due to a settlement between the owner of the disputed trade mark and the opponent.

3        Pursuant to Article 130 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Court, it is sufficient in the present case to find that, in the light of the withdrawal of the opposition, the present action has become devoid of purpose. There is therefore no longer any need to adjudicate on the action (order of 3 July 2003 in Lichtwer Pharma v OHIM — Biofarma (Sedonium), T‑10/01, ECR, EU:T:2003:182, paragraphs 16 to 18).

4        Article 137 of the Rules of Procedure provides that, where a case does not proceed to judgment, the costs are to be in the discretion of the Court.

5        In the circumstances of the present case, the Court considers that the applicant and the intervener must be ordered to bear their own costs and to pay those incurred by the defendant.

On those grounds,

THE GENERAL COURT (First Chamber)

hereby orders:

1.      There is no longer any need to adjudicate on the action.

2.      Skype Ultd and Sky International AG shall bear their own costs and shall each pay half of those incurred by the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM).

Luxembourg, 28 December 2015.

1 Language of the case: English.

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