Swiss Federal Court denies likelihood of confusion between the names of the two law firms Pachmann Rechtsanwälte AG and Bachmann Rechtsanwälte AG

Intellectual Property

In a dispute between two Zurich law firms the Swiss Federal Supreme court decided on specific questions on the law of company trade names. The lawfirm “Pachmann Rechtsanwälte AG” registered as a Swiss stock company has raised claims to change the name of the lawfirm “Bachmann Rechtsanwälte AG”, which was later registered as a Swiss company. It based those claims on the law of company names, trade…

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More 6 posts of Stefan Schröter

Intellectual Property

New EU practice regarding black-and-white marks: impact on establishment of genuine use

Trademark owners are concerned about the Common Communication by the trademark offices of the EU states and the European Community Trademark Office published in spring 2014 regarding the “scope of protection for marks registered in black-and-white or greyscale”.

In Switzerland, for genuine use to be established a registered mark can also be used in a form that does not deviate materially from …

Intellectual Property

Genuine use of a trademark when used differently than registered (Decision B-3056/2012 of June 4, 2014 of the Swiss Administrative Court – “Artic”)

ThoCon AG filed the Swiss trademark ARTIC VELVET for inter alia beverages in Nice classes 32 and 33. ILLVA SARONNO SPA filed opposition against this trademark based on an older international figurative trade mark (see below), which is registered in Switzerland for beverages (Nice classes 32 and 33).

Mark as registered (with polar bear element)

The trade mark have been used in Switzerland …

Kartellrecht Uhrenhersteller Schweiz
Intellectual Property

Federal Supreme Court on the actual use requirement (“M WATCH”)

The large Swiss retailer Migros sued the watch manufacturer Mondaine Watch Ltd for transfer or cancellation of the trade marks M-WATCH MONDAINE and . Mondaine had registered those marks while supplying watches to Migros, which uses the upper-case “M” as a trade mark for many goods. One of the key questions in the rather complex litigation was whether Mondaine had been actually using the marks -WA…

Intellectual Property

Decision 4A_6/2013 of April 16, 2013 of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court affirming trademark protection for an unknown geographical indication (WILSON)

The Swiss Federal Institute for Intellectual Property (FIIP) refused the trademark WILSON that was filed on December 10, 2010 claiming protection for tobacco products in class 34. The FIIP qualified the mark as part of the public domain. Also, the FIIP held that the mark was confusing the relevant consumer because they could be misled about the geographical origin of tobacco products labelled by …

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