Philip Morris Brands Sarl v European Union Intellectual Property Office

European Union – Trade marks. Philip Morris Brands Sarl (PMB) had appealed against a decision of the First Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office concerning invalidity proceedings brought by PMB in relation to, among other 'Marlboro' figurative marks, the international figurative mark 'Marlboro'. The General Court of the European Union held that the Board had made a procedural error in breach of the principle of sound administration, by holding that the evidence produced by PMB for the first time before it should not be taken into consideration because of its late submission. The possibility remained that the evidence which the Board had wrongly refused to consider could be such as to modify the substance of the contested decision. Consequently, the Board's decision would be annulled.