Following the harmonisation of the various procedures and the keeping of registers in the fields of trade marks, designs and patents, the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI), the authority responsible for trade mark, patent and design law in Switzerland, has drawn up new guidelines reflecting this harmonisation. These harmonised guidelines concern the parts "General Part", "Registration/Appraisal Procedure" and "Keeping the Register".
In addition, the IPI has partially revised its trade mark guidelines ("International trade mark registration", "Substantive trade mark examination", "Opposition proceedings" and "Cancellation proceedings due to non-use") as well as the guidelines for the substantive examination of national patent applications.
These guidelines entered into force on 1 July 2023 and will be applied to all pending proceedings from that date.
The current versions of the 3 guidelines can be found at https://www.ige.ch/de/uebersicht-dienstleistungen/dokumente-und-links/marken and https://www.ige.ch/de/uebersicht-dienstleistungen/dokumente-und-links/design