Federal Act on the Protection of Trade Marks and Indications of Source

¹The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall es­tab­lish a re­gister for geo­graph­ic­al in­dic­a­tions for goods, which ex­cludes ag­ri­cul­tur­al products, pro­cessed ag­ri­cul­tur­al products and wine, as well as forestry products and pro­cessed forestry products.

²It reg­u­lates in par­tic­u­lar:

a.

en­ti­tle­ment to re­gister;

b.

re­quire­ments for re­gis­tra­tion, in par­tic­u­lar the re­quire­ments for the product spe­cific­a­tion;

c.

the pro­ced­ure for re­gis­tra­tion and ob­jec­tion;

d.

con­trol pro­ced­ures.

³De­cisions and ser­vices in con­nec­tion with the re­gister are sub­ject to fees.

⁴Re­gistered geo­graph­ic­al in­dic­a­tions may not be­come gen­er­ic names. Gen­er­ic names can­not be re­gistered as geo­graph­ic­al in­dic­a­tions.

⁵Any per­son who uses a re­gistered geo­graph­ic­al in­dic­a­tion for identic­al or com­par­able goods must com­ply with the product spe­cific­a­tions. This ob­lig­a­tion does not ap­ply to the use of trade marks that are identic­al or sim­il­ar to a re­gistered geo­graph­ic­al in­dic­a­tion and which were filed or re­gistered in good faith, or that have been ac­quired through use in good faith:

a.

pri­or to 1 Janu­ary 1996; or

b.

pri­or to the name of the re­gistered geo­graph­ic­al in­dic­a­tion be­ing pro­tec­ted in the coun­try of ori­gin, in­so­far as none of the grounds for nullity or re­voc­a­tion set out in this Act ap­ply to the trade mark con­cerned.

⁶Where a trade mark con­tain­ing a geo­graph­ic­al in­dic­a­tion, identic­al or sim­il­ar to a geo­graph­ic­al in­dic­a­tion for which re­gis­tra­tion has been ap­plied, is filed for identic­al or com­par­able goods, the trade mark ex­am­in­a­tion pro­ced­ure shall be sus­pen­ded un­til the fi­nal de­cision on the ap­plic­a­tion for re­gis­tra­tion of the geo­graph­ic­al in­dic­a­tion.

⁷Fol­low­ing re­gis­tra­tion of the geo­graph­ic­al in­dic­a­tion, the trade mark may only be re­gistered for identic­al or com­par­able goods. The goods must be re­stric­ted to the geo­graph­ic­al ori­gin de­scribed in the product spe­cific­a­tions.

⁸Re­gistered geo­graph­ic­al in­dic­a­tions are pro­tec­ted in par­tic­u­lar against:

a.

any com­mer­cial use for oth­er products, whereby the repu­ta­tion of the pro­tec­ted des­ig­na­tion is ex­ploited;

b.

any act of ap­pro­pri­ation, coun­ter­feit­ing or im­it­a­tion.