Company name and trademark law

• IP-IT
• SME

When founding a company, trademark considerations should be taken into consideration from the very beginning in order to avoid unnecessary follow-up costs.

Does the chosen company name infringe trademarks of competitors?

Many company founders do not consider that they should also take trademark considerations into account from the very beginning. This is because a company name is often chosen as the company name without clarifying the extent to which it could infringe the company or the trademarks of competing companies. This can be easily prevented by adequate trademark and company law research.

Choice of company logo

Furthermore, the legal protection of the company’s design appearance, e.g. a special logo with certain colours, can only be achieved through trademark or design law. In contrast, ordinary company law only protects the bare name of your company.

Protect your own company from competitors

Even if you want to protect the specific products and services of your company from competitors, in particular from free riders, their protection under trade mark law is essential. Company law offers only limited protection against third parties using your company name to designate their goods and services in an unauthorised manner. Competition and fair trading law is also often of no further help at this point. By protecting your trade mark from the outset, you can save considerable costs here too. The protection of your trademark applies throughout Switzerland and is easy to extend internationally if you make a basic registration in Switzerland. We would be happy to advise you on how to optimally incorporate trademark considerations when founding your company.

AMATIN AG  Rechtsanwälte / Rechtsberatung  │  Attorneys at Law / Counselors  │  Conseiller Juridiques / Avocats