Switzerland

Appeal, Case law, Company names, Domain name, Lack of distinctiveness, National law, National marks, similarity of goods and services, Switzerland, Trade name, Trademark

(MLL Meyerlustenberger Lachenal Froriep AG)/ /Leave a comment

The Federal Administrative Court partially overturned a decision of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IGE) refusing protection for Apple’s word mark “iMessage” for telecommunication services in class 38.   The Administrative Court agreed with the IPO that “iMessage” lacked original distinctiveness for messaging services, because such services were closely linked to the internet,…

Lack of distinctiveness, Registrability, Switzerland

(Tradamarca)/ /Leave a comment

The Swiss Federal Administrative Court overturned a decision of the Swiss Trademark Office and allowed the word marks “SCHWEIZER SALINEN”, “SALINE SVIZZERE”, “SALINES SUISSES”, “SWISS SALINES”, “SWISS SALT WORKS” on the ground that these were distinctive by virtue of the monopoly that the Applicant enjoys on the Swiss salt market. Schweizer Salinen AG’s five Swiss…

Switzerland

(Tradamarca)/ /Leave a comment

Apple Inc.’s International Registration No 1152788 for the mark “IPAD MINI” was provisionally refused in Switzerland in 2014. The Swiss Trademark Office (IPI) considered that the mark was descriptive of the nature of the products in Class 9 (“Handheld mobile digital electronic device comprising a tablet computer […]). It argued that it would be immediately…

Figurative mark, Switzerland

(Meyerlustenberger Lachenal)/ /Leave a comment

Korean company THEFACESHOP Co., LTD, Seoul, Korea, registered the mark TheFaceShop (see Fig.1) claiming protection for cosmetics, perfumes and related products and retail trade therewith in March 2014 in Switzerland. As one can imagine, the British company THE BODY SHOP INTERNATIONAL PLC, Sussex, England, was not amused and opposed the registration based on its word mark…

Case law, Switzerland

(Meyerlustenberger Lachenal)/ /Leave a comment

In a recent decision, the Federal Administrative Court reminded everybody that under Article 5(2)(a) Madrid Protocol, any refusal of protection of an international mark may only be based on the reasons that have been notified to International Bureau (WIPO) within the one year period from the date on which the notification of the extension has…

Switzerland

(MLL Meyerlustenberger Lachenal Froriep AG)/ /Leave a comment

On January 1, 2017, the new Swissness legislation will come into force. A last minute attempt to stop the new legislation – which some consider overly complex – has recently been refused. The Swissness legislation will regulate the use of all signs and labels that refer to the Swiss origin of goods or services, and…