We have filed a lawsuit with the General Court seeking annulment of the EUIPO’s decision in a legal dispute concerning an application for revocation of a European Union trademark. The background to this is that the proceedings were continued even after the opponent’s insolvency and the resignation of the representing lawyers.

Trademark proceedings before the EUIPO can take a long time. Sometimes they take so long that the opponent becomes insolvent or their company is liquidated in the meantime.

 What happens to an opposition, a complaint or even an action against the EUIPO before the European Court if the representative of the opposing party has resigned and – e.g. under German law – an insolvency administrator has been appointed but does not comment on whether he will continue the proceedings or not?

What happens to the proceedings if the applicant in the cancellation proceedings or the opponent in the opposition proceedings is insolvent and the insolvency administrator makes no move to continue the proceedings? Is the applicant for cancellation still a party to the proceedings if the insolvency administrator does not decide to continue (but also does not decide against it)? Does the application for cancellation remain valid? Is it legally incorrect for the EUIPO to continue the proceedings even though the applicant is no longer represented?

We are looking forward to learning how the General Court views this issue (case no. T-524/24).