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

ORDER OF THE GENERAL COURT (Sixth Chamber)

18 March 2016 (1)

(Community trade mark — Cancelation proceedings — Revocation of the contested decision — No need to adjudicate)

In Case T-592/15,

Novartis AG, established in Basel (Switzerland), represented by M. Douglas, lawyer,

applicant,

v

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

defendant,

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

SK Chemicals GmbH, established in Eschborn (Germany),

ACTION brought against the decision of the Fifth Board of Appeal of OHIM of 7 August 2015 (Case R 2342/2014-5), relating to cancelation proceedings between SK Chemicals GmbH and Novartis AG,

THE GENERAL COURT (Sixth Chamber),

composed of S. Frimodt Nielsen, President, F. Dehousse, A. M. Collins (rapporteur), Judges,

Registrar: E. Coulon,

makes the following

Order

1        By letter lodged at the Court Registry on 4 February 2016, the defendant informed the Court that the Fifth Board of Appeal had, by decision of 27 November 2015 made pursuant to Article 80 of Regulation 207/2009, revoked its decision of 7 August 2015. The defendant requested that the Court find the case to be devoid of purpose and made no observations as to costs.

2        By letter lodged at the Court Registry on 8 February 2016, the intervener also informed the Court that the Fifth Board of Appeal had revoked its decision of 7 August 2015. The intervener requested the Court to declare that the action had become devoid of purpose and that there was no need to adjudicate on it. It also sought an order that the applicant bear the costs of the proceedings both before the Court and before the Fifth Board of Appeal.

3        By letter lodged at the Court Registry on 25 February 2016, the applicant consented to the application for a declaration that there was no need to adjudicate. It requested that the defendant should bear the applicant’s costs.

4        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 revocation of the contested decision, the present action has become devoid of purpose. There is therefore no longer any need to adjudicate on it (order of 21 October 2014 in Gappol Marzena Porczyńska v OHIM – Gap (ITM) (GAPPol), T‑125/14, EU:T:2014:1121, paragraphs 8 to 12).

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

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

On those grounds,

THE GENERAL COURT (Sixth Chamber)

hereby orders:

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

2)      Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) shall bear its own costs and pay those incurred by Novartis AG and SK Chemicals GmbH.

Luxembourg, 18 March 2016.

1 Language of the case: English.

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