Is SPINNING generic? EU General Court explains how the relevant assessment is to be undertaken
Mad Dogg Athletics, based in California, is a company that markets various sporting equipment, including bicycles, men’s and women’s apparel, shoes, accessories, and functional training equipment, online. Since 2000 the company has been also the proprietor of the EU word mark SPINNING for goods and services in Classes, 9 (audio and video cassettes), 28 (exercise equipment), and 41 (exercise training) of the Nice Classification. In 2012 Aerospinning Master Franchising, a company from the Czech Republic, filed an application with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) for revocation of the SPINNING word mark, pursuant to Article 58(1)(b) of Regulation 2017/1001 (the EU Trade Mark Regulation ). The basis for the claim was that SPINNING had become the common name for the ‘exercise equipment’ and the ‘exercise training’ services in question, that is indoor cycling. In 2016 the Fifth Board of Appeal of the EUIPO revoked Mad Dogg Athletics’ rights to the word mark SPINNING fo...