Trademark registration and protection
Let's talkTrademarks
A Swiss trademark runs ten years and can be renewed indefinitely. From choosing a distinctive, registrable trademark to acting against imitators, we secure every element of your brand identity.
Read our Swiss trademark registration guide for official fees, filing steps and examination times.
Protection starts long before the filing. We help you define a mark that is distinctive and defensible, run the clearance searches, and shape a filing strategy that fits your markets and budget. Through the Madrid Protocol and our network of trusted correspondents we coordinate trademark filings in your selected markets, subject to local requirements.
Once registered, a trademark needs looking after. We keep the portfolio in order as it grows (deadlines tracked, renewals paid on time, records clean and invoicing consolidated so the spend stays predictable) and review it with you periodically to prune dead weight and reinforce what matters.
We watch the registers, marketplaces, domains and company names for the look-alikes and bad-faith filings that erode a brand, and we act before they take hold: early warning turns an expensive dispute into a routine objection.
When something does appear, we handle the response end to end: oppositions, cancellations and appeals with every deadline tracked, online and marketplace takedowns, customs enforcement and anti-counterfeiting action. And when your rights become a commercial asset, we negotiate and draft the assignments, licences and franchise agreements behind them.
- 10 yearsTerm of a Swiss registration, renewable indefinitely
- 3 classesIncluded in the IPI's filing fee - CHF 350 filed online
- 3 monthsOpposition window after publication of the registration
- 5 yearsOf non-use, and any third party can ask for cancellation
Clearance and strategy
We check the registers, company names and domains for conflicts, assess how distinctive your sign really is, and tell you plainly if it is a fight you should not pick.
Specification and filing
We draft the list of goods and services against the Nice classification and file with the IPI.
Examination
The IPI reviews absolute grounds. If it raises an objection we answer it: the available response depends on the objection and the applicable deadline.
Registration and opposition period
The mark is entered and published.
Life after registration
Renewals, deadline tracking, evidence of use, watch notices, and enforcement when something appears that should not.
A company name is not a trademark, and neither is a domain. Entering a name in the commercial register gives you no trademark rights, and buying a domain gives you none either. The three are separate systems, and the strongest position is to hold all three for the same name, which is why we usually look at them together.
- Trademark searches and clearance
- Trademark selection and filing strategy
- Filing and prosecution of applications
- International registration via the Madrid Protocol
- Oppositions, cancellations and appeal proceedings
- Renewals, deadline tracking and portfolio management
- Cost forecasting and consolidated invoicing
- Recognition of well-known marks
- Assignment, licence and franchise agreements
- Watching services (similar marks, domains, company names)
- Marketplace and online takedowns
- Customs recordals and anti-counterfeiting
- Infringement actions and unfair competition
- Dispute resolution and mediation
- Enforcement reach across Ukraine and Central Asia
Official sources (English unless indicated): IPI: fees · IPI: use of a trademark.
Fixed-price trademark packages. Swiss Trademark from CHF 850: availability search and risk assessment, filing in 3 classes with the IPI's filing fee included, routine IPI correspondence and the registration certificate. Swiss + EU Trademark from CHF 2,490. Oppositions and disputes are quoted separately, and no package can guarantee registration: the office decides. View all packages
Trademarks - the questions we are asked most
What can be protected as a trademark?
Almost any sign that lets customers tell your goods or services apart from someone else's: words, names, logos, slogans, letter and number combinations, and in some cases shapes, colours or sounds. What cannot be registered are signs that merely describe the product, generic terms, misleading indications, and signs that offend public order.
What conditions does a trademark have to meet?
It has to be distinctive, capable of identifying where the goods or services come from, and it must not be purely descriptive or deceptive. It also must not collide with earlier rights, such as prior trademarks registered for identical or similar goods and services in the same jurisdiction. The IPI does not check conflicts with earlier marks for you, which is why we recommend a proper availability search before any filing.
How does registration work in Switzerland?
You file an application with the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI), naming the mark and the goods and services it should cover. The IPI examines the application on absolute grounds and then registers the mark. Publication of the registration opens a three-month window during which owners of earlier marks may file an opposition.
How long does trademark protection last?
Ten years from the filing date, and it can be renewed for further ten-year periods without limit.
Do I actually have to use my trademark?
A Swiss trademark must be genuinely used for the registered goods or services. After the statutory five-year grace period, uninterrupted non-use can expose it to cancellation unless there are valid reasons. When the period starts can depend on opposition proceedings. Keep dated evidence of use; registration and renewal alone do not eliminate non-use risk.
Isn't my company name or domain enough?
No, they are three different things. Entering a name in the commercial register or buying a domain gives you no trademark rights, and vice versa. The safest position is to align all three: company name, domain and registered trademark.
How do I protect my trademark abroad?
Usually through the Madrid System administered by WIPO, which extends a Swiss base mark to the countries you select in one procedure. Direct national filings or an EU trademark at the EUIPO can be the better route depending on your markets: we design the strategy case by case.
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Switzerland +41 79 199 80 73
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