As of July 1, 2023, the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property will change its practice for examining the distinctive character of trademarks consisting of a place name + year or an event name + year (event trademarks). From now on, the principle is that such word marks without additional distinctive elements will be refused for all goods and services, as they are considered to be in the public domain due to their commonplace nature. This new practice will apply to all procedures in progress from July 1st. The office has adapted its practice following the Federal Court ruling of April 6, 2022 (more details in our previous news https://www.sedin.ch/ressources/actualites/marques-qatar-2022-et-world-cup-2022-annulees-en-suisse/ ). Imagination and uniqueness in the design of event brands are more important than ever.
Isabelle Bruder
