Switzerland trademark application process

The timeframe for registering a Swiss mark is approximately 4-5 months and renewal is due after 10 years. A Swiss trademark may be extended with further 10-year periods, as many times as the applicant wishes.

Filing an application to the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI)
The filing has to include an indication that trademark protection is sought, information identifying the applicant, a representation of the sign and a list of goods or services (has to be filed in German, French or Italian). A filing fee has to be paid within 2 months following the filing date of the application.

Accelerated procedure
For an additional fee, the applicant may request accelerated or particularly accelerated trademark registration procedure within one month from the filing date. In the particularly accelerated procedure the IPI registers the sign as a trademark simultaneously with the publication of the trademark application, with the proviso that this registrations could be final only after the expiry of the time limit fixed for submitting a notice of opposition. A particularly accelerated trademark registration procedure takes about 2 months.

Examination on filing
In the examination on filing, the list of goods and services are checked. If your application consists for the most part of terms that are included in the IPI's database your application qualifies for an early trade mark examination.

Application accessible on SWISSREG
Your application will be published on www.swissreg.ch You can check the status of your application here at any time.

Certificate of filing
After the examination, the IPI send the certificate of filing to the applicant.

Formal and substantive examination
The IPI examines to see whether there are any formal or substantive deficiencies in the application. If this is the case, they will object to your application. You then have the possibility of remedying the deficiencies.

Registration
If the trademark application - and the sign to which it relates - meets all the requirements, the subject matter of the application will be registered as a trademark. After registration, the IPI issues a trademark certificate.

Publication
The three-month opposition period begins once the registration has been published.

Opposition
Within a period of three months of the date of the publication, an opposition may be submitted. A notice of opposition can be based on a trademark application or on an earlier registered trademark.

After registration
After registration, your trade mark is protected in Switzerland for 10 years from the filing date without any additional costs. However, you must use your trade mark at the latest five years after registration (known as the grace period), otherwise you could lose your rights.