|
Legally, a trademark is a protected sign by which a company can distinguish its own goods or services from the goods and services of companies in the same line of business. A trademark registration is valid for 10 years from the filing date and renewable indefinitely for additional periods of 10 years at a time.
According to the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property, any sign that can be represented graphically may serve as a trademark in the legal sense, including words (eg. Victorinox), combinations of letters (e.g. ABB), numbers (e.g. 100), graphic images (e.g. Swisscom logo) three-dimensional shapes (e.g. the Mercedes star), any combination of the aforementioned and many more.
|
