1. Applicant qualifications: Swiss law stipulates that anyone who wishes to distinguish his goods or services from those of others in commercial activities can apply to the Swiss Patent Office to register a trademark. Federal law also stipulates that applicants without a business establishment in Switzerland can apply for trademark protection in Switzerland only if the country where they have a business establishment accepts Swiss trademarks or service marks and treats them the same as trademarks in their own country.
2. Application process:
(1) Formal review: After the application is submitted, the legality review of the submitted application documents, trademark drawings, power of attorney and other documents shall be carried out; if the application is in compliance with the regulations , a filing date and filing number will be granted.
(2) Substantive examination: Examine whether the trademark is registrable in accordance with the law, whether it is identical or similar to a previously registered trademark, and whether it violates the prohibition provisions of the trademark law. For a trademark that fails substantive examination, the examining officer will notify the applicant in writing and inform the applicant of the reasons for rejection. The applicant may submit a reexamination within the time limit from the date of receipt of the rejection notice. Otherwise, the application will be deemed abandoned, and the application date and application number will not be retained.
(3) Trademark Notice: After review, if the examiner believes that the trademark application can be accepted, an announcement will be published on the Swiss Official Trademark Notice. The objection period is 3 months from the date of announcement.
(4) Registration Approval: Trademarks that are found to be registrable after opposition, or trademarks that are announced as having no objections will be approved for registration and a registration certificate will be issued. The entire smooth application process (if there are no rejections, objections, etc.) takes about 4-6 months.