Founding a company / Question 6
Used the name before someone filed it? What that counts for.
It counts for what you already did. Swiss law gives the trademark to whoever files first, but the holder cannot stop someone from continuing to use a sign to the same extent as before the filing. That right does not reach new products or markets, and it can only be passed on together with the business.
Free account · One name watched every day
01 / First to file
The mark goes to whoever files first.
A trademark right belongs to the person who first files the mark, and it is established on entry in the register. (MSchG Arts. 5 and 6)
Earlier use alone gives no trademark right against the later filing. The exception is a mark already well known in Switzerland when the other filing was made: it counts as an earlier mark. (MSchG Art. 3(2)(b))
Start a free watch on your name02 / Continued use
The same extent, no more.
The holder may not prohibit another person from continuing to use a sign to the same extent as before the application was filed. (MSchG Art. 14(1))
This right to continued use can be transferred only together with the business. (MSchG Art. 14(2)) It is measured by the use made before the filing, so dated records of that use matter.
Start a free watch on your name03 / Watching for filings
Three months to object.
The holder of an earlier mark can oppose a new Swiss registration within three months of its publication. (MSchG Art. 31) Opposition rests on an earlier trademark, so a name that was only used, never filed, cannot be the basis of one. (MSchG Art. 3(2), Art. 31(1))
New registrations are published on Swissreg, and the IPI advises opposing where the marks could be confused. (IPI, Filing an opposition)
Start a free watch on your name04 / In Antevo
Watch your name for new filings.
A free Antevo Trademark account watches one name: it checks the registers every day for new filings close to yours and flags them, with a similarity score and who filed it. Where Antevo holds the publication date, it gives the opposition deadline from each office’s own statute.
Start a free watch on your nameSources
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.