In its Judgment of 6 July 2012 in Case T-60/10 Jackson International Trading Co. Kurt D. Brühl GbmH & Co. KG v OHIM - Royal Shakespeare, the General Court (Royal Shakespeare), the General Court analyses to what extent the reputation of the Royal Shakespeare Company in the organisation of theater productions in the United Kingdom granted a right to request the cancellation of the trade mark 'Royal Shakespeare' as a Community trade mark in respect of alcoholic beverages (including beer and Scotch Whisky) and non-alcoholic beverages (mineral water, fruit juices, etc).
In the Royal Shakespeare Judgment, the GC conducts a rather detailed analysis of the elements that are necessary for the prior repute of a trade mark to grant a cancellation request of a similar trade mark under articles 5(3) and 8(5) of Regulation No 207/2009. The GC structures the analysis around the delimitation of the relevant public for the analysis of the reputation of the earlier trade mark and the scope of that reputation, and finds that an 'exceptional' reputation in a specific type of services within one class of the Nice Agreement is sufficient to trigger protection, regardless of how different they are from the other products or services for which the similar mark is used (which analysis is reserved for the issue of the likelihood of unfair advantage in the use of the trade mark).
The GC also stresses and clarifies the requirements to be met in order to determine that there is a risk of undue advantage in the use of a trade mark similar or identical to that with ('exceptional') reputation:
47 [...] article 8(5) of Regulation No 207/2009 covers three separate and alternative types of risk, namely that the use without due cause of the mark applied for will take unfair advantage of the distinctive character or the repute of the earlier mark, or that it will be detrimental to the distinctive character of the earlier mark, or that it will be detrimental to the repute of the earlier mark.48 The unfair advantage taken of the distinctive character or the repute of the earlier trade mark consists in the fact that the image of the mark with a reputation or the characteristics which it projects will be transferred to the goods covered by the mark applied for, with the result that the marketing of those goods can be made easier by that association with the earlier mark with a reputation.49 It should, however, be emphasised that in none of those cases is it necessary that there be a likelihood of confusion between the marks at issue; it is only necessary that the relevant public is able to establish a link between them, without having necessarily to confuse them [...]56 [...] The advantage arising from the use by a third party of a sign similar to a mark with a reputation is an advantage taken unfairly by that third party of the distinctive character or the repute of the mark where that party seeks by that use to ride on the coat-tails of the mark with a reputation in order to benefit from the power of attraction, the reputation and the prestige of that mark and to exploit, without paying any financial compensation, the marketing effort expended by the proprietor of the mark in order to create and maintain the mark’s image
Following this standard refresher of the applicable law, the GC conducts the analysis under the specific circumstances of the case, and finds that the possibility that the public establishes a relatively weak link between the concerned trade marks suffices to grant protection:
59 With regard to the goods and services in the present case, those of the applicant do not appear to be directly and immediately linked to the intervener’s theatre productions. However, despite the differences in the nature of those goods and services, there is, none the less, a certain proximity and link between them. In that regard, it has already been acknowledged in case-law that there is a certain similarity between entertainment services and beer due to their complementarity (see Judgment of 4 November 2008 in Case T‑161/07 Group Lottuss v OHIM – Ugly (Coyote Ugly), not published in the ECR, paragraphs 31 to 37). It is common practice, in theatres, for bar and catering services to be offered either side of and in the interval of a performance. (emphasis added)60 Moreover, irrespective of the above, in view of the established reputation of the earlier trade mark, the relevant public, namely the public at large in the United Kingdom, would be able to make a link with the intervener when seeing a beer with the contested trade mark in a supermarket or in a bar.61 In the present case, the applicant would benefit from the power of attraction, the reputation and the prestige of the earlier trade mark for its own goods, such as beer and other beverages, and for its services. In the beverages market, those goods would attract the consumer’s attention thanks to the association with the intervener and its earlier trade mark, which would give the applicant a commercial advantage over its competitors’ goods. That economic advantage would consist of exploiting the effort expended by the intervener in order to establish the reputation and the image of its earlier trade mark, without paying any compensation in exchange. That equates to an unfair advantage taken by the applicant of the repute of the earlier trade mark within the meaning of Article 8(5) of Regulation No 207/2009.
Therefore, the GC Judgment in the Royal Shakespeare case can be seen as a broadening of the scope of protection or (‘exceptionally’) reputed trade marks under EU law through a reduced standard of risk of association by consumers.