European Union – Trade marks. Articles 16 and 18 of Council Regulation (EC) 207/2009 should be interpreted as not precluding the application to an EU trade mark of a national provision, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, under which a person harmed, by the trade mark registration which had been applied for in fraud of his rights or in breach of a legal or contractual obligation, was entitled to claim ownership of that trade mark, provided that the situation concerned did not fall within those covered by art 18 of that regulation. The Court of Justice of the European Union so held in a preliminary ruling concerning the ownership of an EU figurative mark registered in the applicant's name.