Federal Act
on the Protection of Trade Marks and Indications of Source
(Trade Mark Protection Act, TmPA)

¹ The ef­fects of the in­ter­na­tion­al re­gis­tra­tion of an ap­pel­la­tion of ori­gin or geo­graph­ic­al in­dic­a­tion whose pro­tec­tion on Swiss ter­rit­ory has been re­ques­ted may be re­fused on the fol­low­ing grounds in par­tic­u­lar:

a.

The de­nom­in­a­tion or in­dic­a­tion does not cor­res­pond to the defin­i­tions in Art­icle 2 of the Geneva Act⁷².

b.

The pro­tec­tion based on in­ter­na­tion­al re­gis­tra­tion is con­trary to the law, pub­lic policy or mor­al­ity.

c.

The pro­tec­tion based on in­ter­na­tion­al re­gis­tra­tion in­fringes an earli­er trade mark that has been re­gistered in good faith for an identic­al or com­par­able product.

² The IPI de­cides ex of­fi­cio wheth­er a ground un­der para­graph 1 let­ter a or b ap­plies.

³ A third party may raise any of the grounds un­der para­graph 1 with the IPI.

⁴ In ad­di­tion, a third party may re­quest the trans­ition­al peri­od un­der Art­icle 17 of the Geneva Act to be gran­ted, in or­der to ter­min­ate the pri­or use in good faith of a de­nom­in­a­tion or in­dic­a­tion that is the sub­ject of in­ter­na­tion­al re­gis­tra­tion.

⁵ A trade mark that has been filed or re­gistered in good faith be­fore the de­nom­in­a­tion or in­dic­a­tion that is the sub­ject of in­ter­na­tion­al re­gis­tra­tion has been pro­tec­ted on Swiss ter­rit­ory and whose use for an identic­al or com­par­able product would be con­trary to Art­icle 11 of the Geneva Act, can nev­er­the­less con­tin­ue to be used provided there are no grounds for nullity or for­feit­ure un­der this Act. Its re­gis­tra­tion may be ex­ten­ded un­der the same con­di­tions.

⁶ Art­icle 50b para­graphs 6 and 7 ap­ply by ana­logy.

⁷ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall reg­u­late the de­tails of the pro­ced­ure.