Neue Mitgliedstaaten internationaler Konventionen (Datum des Inkrafttretens)

The term “genuine use” is not defined under Swiss substantive trademark law and has therefore no specific meaning. On the other hand it is a recognized concept under Swiss law that the validity of a mark must be maintained by use. Interestingly, the Swiss Trademark Act (“TMA”) only provides for very few concrete parameters as regarding the kind of use which is required and regarded as sufficient to maintain the rights that vest in a registered mark. Thus, the concrete parameters of quality or degree of use were developed by Swiss scholars and jurisprudence over the years and resulted in the doctrine of “rechtserhaltender Gebrauch” or “use maintaining the mark”. The requirement of “genuine use” (or rather “serious use” as referred to in Swiss jurisprudence) is only one element of the above doctrine. Thus, any reference to the term “genuine use” in this paper must be understood in the broad framework of the Swiss doctrine of “use maintaining the mark” as further explained in reply to the questions below.

Before January 1, 2011, provisions dealing with preliminary measures could be found in the different Swiss IP statutes, some of which referred to provisions in the Swiss Civil Code concerning the protection of personality rights. Since January 1, 2011, the requirements for preliminary measures in general are set forth in Articles 261 ss. of the Swiss Code of Civil Procedure (CCP). These provisions replaced the respective parts in the different IP statutes.

Dr. Michael Ritscher, Präsident von INGRES und Leiter dieser Veranstaltung, wies in seiner Begrüssung darauf hin, dass INGRES sich seit zehn Jahren intensiv für die Schaffung eines Patentgerichts eingesetzt hat und sich auch weiterhin dafür einsetzen wird, dass dieses den von allen Beteiligten erhofften Erfolg haben wird.