European Union – Trade marks. An application for a declaration of invalidity against a trade mark, pursuant to art 53(1)(a) of Council Regulation (EC) 207/2009, based on the existence of a likelihood of confusion within the meaning of art 8(1)(b) of that regulation did not necessarily bring the issue of genuine use of the earlier mark (the genuine use issue) before the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). It followed that EUIPO's Board of Appeal could only examine that issue if a party raised it specifically before the Board. Consequently, the General Court of the European Union annulled the Board's decision on the basis that as the genuine use issue had not been raised by the parties before the Board, it had not had competence to make a ruling on its own motion on that issue.