“My life. My Store. My Wife, My Life? My Fan, My Man?” Are slogans protectable as trademarks?

• IP-IT
• SME

Knowing how, slogans are also protectable as word marks.

Slogans as a trademark

A trademark is a protected sign with which a company wants to distinguish its goods or services from those of other companies. Can slogans be registered as trademarks? Yes, because in addition to words, combinations of letters and numbers, pictorial representations, three-dimensional shapes, sound sequences and combinations of these elements, slogans can also be protected as a composite word mark. Example: The slogan of AMATIN “RECHT BERATEN. LEGAL MATTERS. NOUS CONSEILLONS LE DROIT”. Or the slogans “BERATEN IM ALTER”, “TESTAMENT FÜR DAS LEBEN”, “12 NACH 12”, “7 NACH 7” and “AUF DEN . GEBRACHT”. These slogans could be protected as trademarks because they all meet the legal requirements.

Trademark Law Requirements for a Protectable Slogan

Not every slogan is protectable as a trademark. The general requirements for a trademark naturally also apply to slogans. For example, the Federal Supreme Court has ruled that the slogan of a well-known cheese manufacturer, “EIN STÜCK SCHWEIZ” (“A Piece of Switzerland”), is public domain and therefore not protectable as a trademark. Also excluded are misleading slogans or those that are contrary to public order, morality or applicable law. Whether a slogan is then also permissible in TV advertising or Internet advertising is again another question, which is judged according to other laws.

We are happy to advise you on the creation of a slogan

If you have a slogan and want to protect or advertise it, we will be happy to advise you on how to do so, as announced in our protected slogan “FREUDE AM BERATEN®”. We recommend to contact us already when the slogan is still in the phase of creation and not already supposedly finished. Otherwise, there is a risk that you will have spent a lot of money on a slogan that in the end is not protectable at all or cannot be used in advertising. By involving AMATIN from the very beginning, you can save yourself considerable bad investments.

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

AMATIN.® RECHT BERATEN. LEGAL MATTERS. NOUS CONSEILLONS LE DROIT.®   (FAMILY) BUSINESS MATTERS.®  Basel, Switzerland – in the heArt of old Europe and the Swiss Economic Backbone St.Gallen-Zurich-Basel-Lausanne-Geneva