PROTECTION OF WINE NAMES BY TRADEMARK LAW 129 entitled to prohibit its use by a third party in relation to goods which have been put into circulation in the European Economic Area, under the trade mark, by him or with his consent, save where there exist legitimate reasons for the proprietor to oppose further commercialisation of the goods.” Therefore, “In order to ensure legal certainty and safeguard legitimately acquired trade mark rights, it is appropriate and necessary to lay down, without prejudice to the principle that the later trade mark cannot be enforced against the earlier trade mark, that proprietors of EU trade marks should not be entitled to oppose the use of a later trade mark if the later trade mark was acquired at a time when the earlier trade mark could not be enforced against the later trade mark”. Consequently, the owner of a prior trademark could not assert its rights against a use to which he consented (art. 15 EUTMR) or acquiesced for a period of five successive years (art. 61 EUTMR). However, acquiescence should not apply when the trademark was filed in bad faith. Furthermore, the owner of a prior trademark is not admissible in its action if its trademark was likely to be revoked for non-use at the time the action was initiated and the incriminated trademark was filed [art. 47(2) and 64 EUTMR]. Indeed, to remain valid, the owner of a trademark registered for more than five years has to put it to genuine use in the Union in connection with the goods or services in respect of which it is registered during an uninterrupted period of five years (art. 18 and 58 EUTMR). The place conferred on the use made by the right holder is a prerequisite for the legitimacy of his action consistent with the need to limit exceptions to free competition. A trademark owner whose trademark is not being used is thus deprived of a right to take action, which will then consist solely of a will to block competition.
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