The General Court annuls the EUIPO decision after finding an error in the global assessment of the likelihood of confusion between the BLUE PADEL and Bullpadel marks, as it failed to properly take into account that some of the goods at issue were identical.
The General Court of the European Union has delivered its judgment in case T-350/25, upholding the action brought by Aguirre y Compañía, S.A., owner of the Bullpadel trade mark, thereby annulling the decision of the Fifth Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) of 26 March 2025.
The dispute arose from the application for registration of the EU word mark BLUE PADEL, filed in 2022 to designate jerseys in Class 25. In March 2023, Aguirre y Compañía filed an opposition against that application on the basis of several earlier EU trade marks BULLPADEL, registered for a broad range of goods, including clothing, footwear and sporting articles.
The EUIPO initially rejected the opposition and subsequently dismissed the appeal brought by Aguirre y Compañía. The Office considered that there was no likelihood of confusion on the part of the relevant public, taking into account the average level of attention of that public, the low degree of visual and conceptual similarity between the signs, the average degree of phonetic similarity and the normal distinctive character of the earlier marks.
However, the General Court has now corrected that assessment and annulled the EUIPO decision. The judgment considers that the Office “made an error” in its global assessment of the likelihood of confusion, since it took into account only a low degree of similarity between the goods, when some of the goods designated by the marks at issue —in particular, clothing products— were identical.
The Court recalls that the assessment of the likelihood of confusion requires a global and interdependent evaluation of all relevant factors: the similarity between the signs, the identity or similarity of the goods, the level of attention of the public and the distinctive character of the earlier mark. In this case, although the Court confirms certain aspects of the EUIPO’s analysis, it concludes that the Office could not disregard the identity of some of the goods in its final assessment of the likelihood of confusion, placing the weighing of the identity of certain goods at the heart of the global assessment of that risk.
As a result, the General Court upholds the first plea raised by the owners of Bullpadel, concerning infringement of Article 8(1)(b) of the Regulation on the European Union trade mark, and annuls the contested decision.
This judgment reinforces the need for any assessment of the likelihood of confusion to take into account, rigorously, not only the comparison between signs, but also the actual identity or similarity of the goods and services at issue.
Subject to an appeal on points of law before the Court of Justice of the European Union, the ruling also highlights the importance of actively protecting and monitoring trade mark rights, particularly in the case of signs with an established market presence such as BULLPADEL. The entry of marks capable of generating association or confusion not only compromises the essential function of the trade mark as an indicator of commercial origin, but may also affect its distinctive, reputational and economic value.
The Spanish sports brand, currently consolidated as the world’s number one brand by sales in padel racquets, footwear, technical clothing and accessories, was represented in these proceedings by lawyers Jorge Vicente, Emilia López Camba and Jaume Mourisco Ayuso, members of the PONS IP Legal Advisory team led by José Carlos Erdozain, who acted in defence of Aguirre y Compañía’s principal brand in this litigation before the European courts.
