Article 17

1. Where the application is found admissible pursuant to Article 15, the Office shall send a communication to the parties informing them that the adversarial part of the revocation or invalidity proceedings has commenced and inviting the proprietor of the EU trade mark to file observations within a specified period.

2. Where the Office has invited a party in accordance with Article 64(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 to file observations within a specified period and that party does not submit any observations within that period, the Office shall close the adversarial part of the proceedings and base its ruling on the revocation or invalidity on the basis of the evidence before it.

3. Where the applicant has not submitted the facts, arguments or evidence required to substantiate the application, the application shall be rejected as unfounded.

4. Without prejudice to Article 62, all observations filed by the parties shall be sent to the other party concerned.

5. Where the proprietor surrenders the EU trade mark subject to an application as referred to in Article 12 to cover only goods or services against which the application is not directed, or the EU trade mark is revoked or declared invalid in parallel proceedings, or expires, the proceedings shall be closed except where Article 57(2) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 shall apply or the applicant shows a legitimate interest in obtaining a decision on the merits.

6. Where the proprietor partially surrenders the EU trade mark by deleting some of the goods or services against which the application is directed, the Office shall invite the applicant to state, within such a period as it may specify, whether it maintains the application and if so, against which of the remaining goods or services. Where the applicant withdraws the application in light of the surrender, or the Office is informed about a settlement between the parties, the proceedings shall be closed.

7. Where the proprietor wishes to surrender the contested EU trade mark, it shall do so by way of a separate document.

8. Article 8(9) shall apply mutatis mutandis.