Switzerland's trademark registration runs through a single federal office — the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IGE / IPI) in Bern — and, thanks to the 1923 bilateral treaty, a granted Swiss mark automatically extends to Liechtenstein with no second filing and no extra fee. There is no regional equivalent to EUIPO; an EUTM gives you nothing in Switzerland. The workflow below covers the practical path from clearance search to certificate, with the 2026 fee schedule and the procedural traps that catch foreign applicants.
Before paying anything, run a prior-rights search on the Swissreg public database (swissreg.ch). IGE does not search for conflicting earlier marks ex officio — it examines only absolute grounds. That means a mark identical to an existing registration in the same class will sail through examination and reach publication; the only thing that can stop it is a third-party opposition during the three-month window. A professional availability search (checking phonetic, visual and conceptual proximity, not just identical strings) typically costs CHF 300–800 and is strongly advised for any brand entering the Swiss market through retail or e-commerce channels like Galaxus, Digitec or Amazon.ch.
Swiss law (Art. 3 TmPA) accepts word marks, figurative marks, combined word-image marks, three-dimensional shapes, single and composite colour marks, sound marks and position marks. Representation rules are strict:
● Figurative/graphic marks: JPG, max 8 × 8 cm, clear background.
● Sound marks: MP3 file plus standard musical notation; oscillograms alone are rejected.
● Colour marks: Pantone or RAL codes must be stated if exclusive colour protection is claimed.
● Word marks: typed in plain text; no font protection is conferred unless filed as a combined mark.
The mark itself may be in English or any language, but everything else in the file is governed by the language rule below.
All submissions to IGE must be in German, French or Italian — the three official languages. The goods/services list, correspondence and the power of attorney cannot be in English; the IPI classification tool (wdl.ige.ch) is only available in DE/FR/IT. Supporting documents in another language may be accepted if IGE asks for a certified translation, but the core filing must be in an official language.
Non-residents without a Swiss or Liechtenstein establishment must appoint a Swiss-resident IP representative (Art. 28 TmPA). A foreign entity filing directly is rejected outright. The representative provides the domestic service address; the power of attorney must be in German, French or Italian — an English POA is not accepted and must be translated and, where IGE requests, certified.
Mandatory filing elements to lock the date:
● Applicant's full legal name and postal address (company form stated for legal entities).
● Clear representation of the mark per the rules above.
● Goods/services list by Nice Classification 11th edition.
● Priority declaration + priority document if a Paris/exhibition priority is claimed (document within 6 months; if in EN/DE/FR/IT no translation needed).
● Payment of the filing fee.
Applications go through e-trademark.ige.ch. The portal supports DE/FR/IT and generates the application number immediately on submission. Paper filings are still accepted by post but carry a surcharge and are processed slower.
All fees are non-refundable even on refusal, withdrawal or abandonment. A three-class e-filing therefore costs CHF 350; a five-class e-filing costs CHF 550.
After payment confirmation, IGE runs formalities examination (completeness, representation compliance, Nice class validity). Deficiencies draw a written notice with a remedial deadline — usually two months. Unremedied defects cause partial or total withdrawal.
Substantive examination covers absolute grounds only (Art. 2 TmPA): lack of distinctiveness, descriptiveness, deceptiveness, public-policy/morality breaches, and prohibited emblems (Swiss cross, cantonal arms, official signs). If IGE raises an objection, the applicant gets a reply window to argue or amend the goods/services list; disclaimers on descriptive elements are possible. No relative-grounds search happens — this is the single biggest difference from EUIPO practice and the reason clearance searching is non-optional.
With no opposition, a clean file typically reaches publication in 4–6 months; expedited examination compresses the office phase to about four weeks but does not shorten the opposition window.
Once examination clears, the mark is published in Swissreg and the Schweizerisches Handelsamtsblatt (SHAB / SOGC). The opposition period is three months, non-extendable, counted from the publication date. IGE sends no notices to prior-rights holders — monitoring SHAB or running a watch service is the owner's responsibility. Any holder of an earlier Swiss registration, an in-file application, or a well-known unregistered mark may oppose on relative grounds (Art. 3 TmPA: similar sign + similar goods/services + likelihood of confusion).
Opposition proceedings run 12–24 months and can be appealed to the Federal Administrative Court. The opposition fee is CHF 800. A practical warning: SHAB publication is scraped by domain bots within hours — applicants who have not pre-registered matching .ch / .com / .li domains routinely face squatting demands.
If no opposition is filed or all oppositions fail, IGE enters the mark in the Register and protection runs from the filing date for 10 years, renewable indefinitely in 10-year blocks. Renewal can be requested from 12 months before expiry; a 6-month grace period after expiry is available with the CHF 50 surcharge. IGE issues an electronic register extract with full legal effect — there is no separate paper certificate requirement for enforcement.
When Switzerland is reached via the Madrid Protocol, IGE acts as designated office and applies the same absolute-grounds examination and the same three-month SHAB opposition window. The five-year base-mark dependency applies: if the home-office basic mark is cancelled or withdrawn within five years of the international registration date, the Swiss designation lapses unless converted to a national application within the prescribed window — and already-paid WIPO fees are not refunded. For Swiss-origin filers, IGE is also the office of origin: a Swiss basic application (pending is enough) must exist before the international application can be certified and forwarded to WIPO.
● English-only filings are rejected — the goods/services list and POA must be in DE/FR/IT.
● No ex officio conflict search — budget for a Swissreg + TMview clearance before filing.
● Three-month opposition window with no IGE watch — subscribe to a SHAB watch service if you own prior Swiss rights.
● e-filing discount is real money — paper costs CHF 100 more on the base fee.
● Madrid designation is not safer — the 5-year base-mark dependency can wipe the Swiss effect if the home mark fails.
IPcrossarkhttps://www.ipcrossark.com/en/trademark.html?cid=64
IGE – e-trademark filing portal
Swissreg – official Swiss trademark register and publication platform
IGE – trademark costs and fees (2026 official schedule)
ICLG – Trade Mark Laws and Regulations 2026: Switzerland
