Federal Institute for Intellectual Property
The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IGE) (French Institut Fédéral de la Propriété Intellectuelle , Italian Istituto Federale della Proprietà Intellettuale , Rhaeto-Romanic Institut Federal da Proprietad Intellectuala , English Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property ) based in Bern is the competence center of the Swiss Confederation for all questions about patents , trademarks , designations of origin , design protection and copyright . It belongs to the Federal Department of Justice and Police . Since its conversion into a federal public institution in 1996, it has had its own legal personality and is independent of the federal budget. The IPI has around 260 employees (March 2014).
Order and services
The tasks of the IPI are defined in a separate law on the statute and tasks of the IPI :
- Granting of property rights: The IPI is the Swiss authority responsible for patent, trademark and design applications and, depending on the procedure, also for international applications. It examines the national applications, grants the property rights and manages the relevant registers. Its official publication medium for the publication of industrial property titles is the online database Swissreg. Interested parties can find information from the property right registers and protected topographies free of charge.
- Sovereign information task: The IGE informs economic players, educational institutions and the public about intellectual property protection systems and how they can be used to advantage. Among other things, it offers
kmu.ige.cha specific website for SMEs and beginners. - Political services: The IPI prepares legislation on invention patents, design, copyright and related rights, the topographies of semiconductor products, brands and indications of origin, public coats of arms and other public symbols, as well as the other decrees in the field of intellectual property. It advises the federal authorities and represents Switzerland on all questions of intellectual property in international organizations and in negotiations with third countries.
- Free (commercial) information services: Under the label ip-search, the IPI carries out trademark searches and patent searches on the basis of private law : in the area of trademarks mainly similarity searches and in the area of patents searches for the state of the art, searches for legal validity (opposition searches), Patent infringement research (Freedom to Operate), as well as patent environment analyzes. Information about brands, patents and technologies is an important basis for business decisions in the areas of research and development, law and marketing.
Employees
- Directors
- 1888–1921 Friedrich Haller
- 1921–1935 Walter Kraft
- 1935–1962 Hans Morf
- 1962–1969 Joseph Voyame
- 1969–1975 Walter Stamm
- 1976–1985 Paul Brändli
- 1985–1989 Jean-Louis Comte
- 1989–2015 Roland Grossenbacher (* 1950)
- 2015-date Catherine Chammartin
- Technical expert
- 1902–1909 Albert Einstein (1879–1955)
history
The office was established on November 15, 1888. As part of the new administrative organization law, it was renamed the Federal Office for Intellectual Property (BAGE) in 1978. On January 1, 1996, it received the status of an independent public-law institution and was continued under the name of the Federal Institute for Intellectual Property (IGE).
Web links
- Official website
- Patent and trademark research by the IPI ip-search
- Swissreg property rights database
- Law on statute and tasks of the IPI (IGEG)
- Laws on the IPI, intellectual property and data protection
Individual evidence
- ↑ Law on the statute and tasks of the IPI (IGEG)
- ↑ Federal Institute for Intellectual Property, Albert Einstein