Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property

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The IPI logo

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The IPI building on Stauffacherstrasse in Bern.

The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property, or IPI (French: Institut Fédéral de la Propriété Intellectuelle, German: Eidgenössisches Institut für Geistiges Eigentum or IGE, Italian: Istituto Federale della Proprietà Intellettuale), based in Bern, is the Swiss Confederation’s agency competent for all questions concerning patents, trademarks, geographical indications, industrial designs and copyright.

It belongs to the Federal Department of Justice and Police. Since its conversion into a public law institution of the Confederation in 1996, it is its own legal entity and is independent of the federal budget. The IPI has approximately 260 employees (as of March 2014).

History

The Federal Intellectual Property Agency was founded on 15 November 1888. It was renamed the Federal Office of Intellectual Property in 1978 as part of the new administrative organisation law. On 1 January 1996, it received the status of an independent public law institution and continued under the name of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI).

Mandate and services

The IPI's tasks are laid down in its own Federal Act on the Statute and Tasks of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property:

• The granting of intellectual property (IP) rights: The IPI is the central point of contact for patent, trade mark and design applications in Switzerland and, depending on the procedure, also for international applications. It examines national applications, grants IP rights and administers the relevant registers. Its official organ for publishing IP rights is the online database Swissreg. Information from the IP registers on IP rights and protected topographies can be found in this database free of charge.
• Sovereign duty to provide information: The IPI informs industry stakeholders, educational institutions and the public about the intellectual property protection systems and how they can be utilised to the best advantage.
• Political services: The IPI prepares legislation on patents for inventions, designs, copyright and related rights, topographies of semiconductor products, trade marks and indications of source, public coats of arms and other public signs, as well as other enactments in the field of intellectual property. It advises the federal authorities and represents Switzerland in all intellectual property issues in international organisations and in negotiations with third states.
• Commercial information services: The IPI carries out trade mark and patent searches on the basis of private law under the label of ip-search; in particular, it carries out similarity searches for trade marks, as well as prior art searches, validity searches (opposition searches), patent infringement searches (freedom to operate) and patent landscape analyses for patents.

Notable employees

Director Generals

• 1888 – 1921 Friedrich Haller
• 1921 – 1935 Walther Kraft
• 1935 – 1962 Hans Morf
• 1962 - 1969 Joseph Voyame (1923-2010)
• 1969 – 1975 Walter Stamm
• 1976 – 1985 Paul Brändli
• 1985 – 1989 Jean-Louis Comte
• 1989 – 2015 Roland Grossenbacher (* 1950)

Technical experts

• 1902 – 1909 Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

External links

• Official website
• IPI’s ip-search patent and trade mark searches
• Swissreg IP rights database