The General Court established that there is no risk of confusion between the trademark of the Italian soccer team Milan and the trademarks of the famous hotel chain Marriott.
In particular, the case dates back to the year 2014, when Marriott filed an opposition against the EU designation of the International "AC Milan" trademark application, in the name of Associazione Calcio Milan S.p.A., for different goods and services, included services related to hotel accommodation,
The opposition was filed by Marriott on the earlier trademarks "Ac", "Ac Hotels by Marriott" and "Ac Hotels Marriott", but EUIPO rejected the opposition.
Therefore, the hotel chain appealed the EUIPO decision before the General Court, but the latter maintained the contested decision arguing that "bearing in mind that the consumer normally perceives a mark as a whole and does not engage in an analysis of its various details, it must be held that, generally, the consumer will not perceive the term ‘ac’ independently or remember it in the mark applied for as that term will not sufficiently attract his attention".