Nullity Of Defensive Trademarks: The GMAIL Case

According to the practice of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, a trademark will not enjoy protection under the Swiss Trademark Act if its holder does not intend any serious use of the trademark, but rather registers it in order to prevent registration by third parties or to increase the range of protection of a similar trademark that is already in use. The purpose of such defensive trademarks is to impede competitors. Hence they stand in contradiction to the goal of trademark protection. They constitute an abuse of rights pursuant to Art. 2 of the Swiss Unfair Competition Law and as such, are null and void.

No Hiding Under The Period Of Grace

In the case at hand, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court had to deal with a trademark allegedly registered in order to extort financial benefits from a third party. Google Inc. had requested the nullity of the defendant's trademark "GMAIL" in Switzerland, claiming that his sole purpose was to sell it to Google for a high price, and