Founding a company / Question 3
Should the company or the founder hold the mark?
Intelligence, not legal advice. Screening is a starting point, not a clearance opinion.
Anyone may file a trademark, and the register names the holder. A mark filed by the founder personally belongs to the founder, not to the company that uses it. It can move to the company later, but only by a written transfer.
01 / Antevo analysis
How often the holder is not a company.
of trademark applications filed in Switzerland from July to September 2026 named a holder with no company legal form, typically a private person: 2,006 of 5,462. For holders with a Swiss address: 42%.
of those filed by Swiss-address holders without a legal form named no representative, such as a trademark attorney, on the register. Where the name carries a legal form: 54%.
Antevo analysis of national trademark applications in the Swiss register (Swissreg, IPI) with a filing date from 1 July to 30 September 2026, the latest full quarter our copy of the register holds almost completely; as of 16 October 2026. A holder name counts as carrying a legal form when it contains a recognised company or organisation form (AG, GmbH, SA, Sàrl, Sagl, Ltd, cooperative, foundation, association and others). The rule fails safe: a company whose form it does not recognise counts as having none, so the share may run slightly high. Address and representative as recorded by the IPI; the 429 applications without a recorded address are not in the Swiss-address figures. Counts only: no holder is named.
Check a brand name ↑02 / Who can file
The register names the owner.
Any person may file a trademark application. The application names the applicant, shows the mark and lists the goods or services it claims. (MSchG Art. 28)
Use of a mark with the holder’s consent counts as use by the holder, so a company can use a mark its founder holds. (MSchG Art. 11(3)) The mark itself still belongs to the founder.
Check a brand name ↑03 / Moving it later
A written transfer, entered in the register.
A transfer of a mark is valid only if made in writing, and against third parties acting in good faith it takes effect once it is entered in the register. (MSchG Art. 17(2))
When a business is transferred, its marks go with it unless agreed otherwise. (MSchG Art. 17(4)) A mark the founder holds privately is not part of that business until it has been transferred to it.
The IPI records a transfer on request, online through Swissreg or by form. (IPI)
Check a brand name ↑04 / In Antevo
See who holds the names near yours.
The free check screens a name across 50+ trademark registers and lists the marks near it, with office, status and the holder where it is a company; a private individual appears as “individual applicant”. Which holder suits your company is a question for your counsel. No account needed; the answer appears on this page.
Check a brand name ↑Sources
Where this comes from.
The counts behind the figures and the primary sources for every legal point. Intelligence, not advice: nothing here is legal advice, and a trademark attorney confirms whether a name is free and how to protect it.