Now in its twelfth year, Class 46 is dedicated to European trade mark law and practice. This weblog is written by a team of enthusiasts who want to spread the word and share their thoughts with others.
Click here subscribe for free.
Who we all are...
Switzerland: SINO is for China
The Federal Administrative Court upheld the refusal of the Swiss IPO to protect th word mark SINO for a variety of household goods, printed matter and toys in Switzerland (note that protection was sought for the word mark, not for the depicted actual use of SINO, which is a character developed by Walter Steinbeck). At least for the French speaking public, SINO was understood as an indication of the origin of the goods from China, and therefore misleading for goods not made in China (this is the - slightly strange - Swiss approach to geographic indications. It would be more logical to say that SINO was descriptive for goods made in China, and therefore not protectable for any goods, no matter where they come from). The applicant could either limit the list of goods to goods made in China, or the extension of protection was to be refused. Since he chose not to limit the list of goods, the application was refused.
One might add that soon, a "limitation" of the list of goods to goods made in China will be no limitation in the strict sense of the word: I am getting the impression that very soon, we reach the point were everything is made in China.
Full text of the decision (in German) here.
Posted by: Mark Schweizer @ 11.15Tags: Switzerland, absolute grounds for refusal, geographic indication, ,



Perm-A-Link: https://www.marques.org/blogs/class46?XID=BHA1582