Trademarks and patents: protecting intellectual property and making it pay

From the preliminary search to filing, through to enforcement and the tax value of the patent. We handle the filings before the Swiss, European and international offices.

The offices we work with

• IPI — Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property
• UIBM — Italian Patent and Trademark Office
• EPO — European Patent Office
• EUIPO — European Union trademarks and designs
• WIPO — international registration

If you sell across several markets, having one point of contact for Switzerland, Italy, the European Union and the international level saves being passed between advisers and, more to the point, saves you from filing strategies that contradict each other from one country to the next.

What we actually do

Trademarks

• Prior rights searches in national and international databases, before filing
• Filing the trademark in Switzerland, Italy, the European Union and internationally
• Handling the procedure through to registration
• Oppositions against confusable marks, and defence where others oppose yours
• Watch services on trademarks filed by third parties
• Assignments and licences
• Renewals and deadline management

Patents

• Prior art searches to verify that the invention really is new
• Study, drafting and filing of the patent application in Switzerland and abroad
• Prosecution of the procedure through to grant
• Validation of European patents in Switzerland and Italy
• Advice on validity and infringement
• Assistance in drafting assignment or licence agreements

Designs

• Filing of designs and models in Switzerland, the European Union and internationally
• Searches among earlier designs and models
• Advice in cases of imitation or infringement of shape
• Transfers and deadline management

Our services

• Trademark registration — protecting the name, the logo, the distinctive sign, in Switzerland and abroad.
• Patent filing — protecting an invention, from the prior art search through to grant.
• Swiss Patent Box — cutting tax on patent profits, by up to 90% in Ticino.

Prior rights searches and technical-legal advice

The work that really counts happens before filing.

Checking that a trademark does not clash with earlier rights, or that an invention really is new, is what saves you from refusals, oppositions and money spent on a right that will not hold. Offices generally do not block a confusable mark of their own motion: the objection comes from the owner of the earlier right, and by then the cost is no longer only financial.

This is the point where technical competence saves money rather than adding a line to the invoice.

The bridge with our other work

• A patent starts with a technical invention. Our grounding in mechanical engineering means we can understand the invention, not merely file it.
• The Patent Box links intellectual property to a tax advantage: it is where patents and taxation meet, and almost nobody covers both sides.
• Anyone filing on software or digital solutions will value an adviser who actually builds software.