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

ORDER OF THE GENERAL COURT (Fifth Chamber)

18 November 2022 (*)

« Rules on language »

In case T‑638/21,

Apart sp. z o.o., established in Suchy Las (Poland), represented by J. Gwiazdowska, lawyer,

applicant,

v

European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), represented by T. Klee and V. Ruzek, acting as Agents,

defendant,

The other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of EUIPO, intervener before the General Court,

S. Tous, SL, established in Manresa (Spain), represented by D. Gómez Sánchez, J. L. Gracia Albero, M. Molina García and M. Schaaf, lawyers,

THE GENERAL COURT (Fifth Chamber),

composed, at the time of the deliberations, of D. Spielmann, U. Öberg and I. Gâlea (Rapporteur), Judges,

Registrar : M. E. Coulon,

makes the following

Order

1        By application lodged at the Registry of the General Court on 4 October 2021, the applicant, Apart sp. z o.o., brought the present action.

2        The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) lodged its response on 20 December 2021.

3        The intervener, S. Tous, SL, lodged its response on 19 December 2021.

4        By letter lodged at the Registry of the General Court on 5 October 2022, the applicant requested, on the basis of Article 45(1)(c) of the Rules of Procedure of the General Court, to be permitted to use Polish during the oral part of the procedure and not English, which is the language of the case.

5        The EUIPO and the intervener were invited to submit their observations on that request for derogation from the language rules.

6        On 24 October 2022, the intervener indicated, in substance, that it does not object to the applicant’s request provided it may also use Spanish for its oral pleadings.

7        On 26 October 2022, EUIPO indicated, in substance, that it objected to the applicant’s request.

8        On 8 November 2022, the applicant indicated that it does not object to the intervener’s request and that granting both of their requests would be in the interest of protecting the rights of the parties.

9        In accordance with Article 45(1)(c) of the Rules of Procedure, at the request of one of the parties, and after the other parties have been heard, the use of another of the languages mentioned in Article 44 of the Rules of Procedure, including Polish, for all or part of the proceedings may be authorised.

10      In the present case, the Court finds that no evidence has been adduced to show that the derogation from the language rules requested by the applicant might delay the procedure or prejudice the procedural rights of the other parties to the proceedings (see, to that effect, order of 17 November 1995, Salt Union v Commission, T‑330/94, EU:T:1995:194, paragraph 27 and of 12 October 2020, H.R. Participations v EUIPO – Hottinger Investment Management (JCE HOTTINGUER), T‑535/19, not published, EU:T:2020:498, paragraph 10).

11      Accordingly, the applicant’s request to use Polish and the intervener’s request to use Spanish during the oral part of the procedure must be granted.

On those grounds,

THE GENERAL COURT (Fifth Chamber)

hereby orders :

1.      Apart sp. z o.o. is authorised to use Polish during the oral part of the procedure.

2.      S. Tous SL, is authorised to use Spanish during the oral part of the procedure.

3.      The costs are reserved.

Luxembourg, 18 November 2022.

*      Language of the case : English.

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