Renaming a company / Question 1
Is the new name free as a trademark?
Intelligence, not legal advice. Screening is a starting point, not a clearance opinion.
The commercial register will not tell you. A new name entered in the register is not protected as a trademark by that entry, and the IPI registers marks without checking them against older ones. Whether a trademark already stands in the way is a search to make before the new name goes on the door.
01 / Antevo count
How many companies take a new name.
companies changed the distinctive part of their registered name from October 2025 to September 2026: 3,458 AG, 3,590 GmbH, 2,158 sole proprietorships and 371 of other legal forms.
of them from July to September 2026, counted by their latest rename notice.
Antevo count of the change notices in the commercial register (rubric HR02) published in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce (SHAB) from 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026 whose title shows a new company name. Each company is counted once, and only where the distinctive part of the name changed: not just the legal form, the capitalisation or an “in Liquidation” suffix. Branches are excluded. Legal form is read from the name for AG and GmbH and from the register entry for all others. As of 18 October 2026. Counts only: no company is named.
Check the new name ↑02 / Two registers
The entry is not a trademark.
The commercial register. Entering a business name in the commercial register does not automatically protect it as a trademark: that protection comes only from an entry in the trademark register kept by the IPI. (IPI, Starting a company)
Before the entry. A protected trademark and a business name can conflict, which is why the IPI advises making sure that no identical or similar name is already protected as a trademark before the name is registered. (IPI)
Check the new name ↑03 / What the IPI checks
Nobody checks for you.
The IPI registers a mark without examining whether it collides with older trademarks, company names or domain names, and asks applicants to search themselves or have someone do it. (IPI, Risk of conflict)
A conflict does not need an identical name: a similar mark for the same or similar goods or services is enough where it creates a likelihood of confusion, and only the holder of the older mark can raise it. (MSchG Art. 3(1) and (3))
Check the new name ↑04 / In Antevo
Screen the new name before you announce it.
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”. It is a first screen, not a clearance opinion: for the final word, a trademark attorney runs a full search. No account needed; the answer appears on this page.
Check the new name ↑Sources
Where this comes from.
The count behind the figures and the primary sources for every legal point. Intelligence, not advice: nothing here is legal advice, and a trademark attorney or your lawyer confirms whether a new name is free and what a rename means for your contracts.