Other Intellectual Property Rights

Trademarks serve to distinguish goods or services of one business from another. Through registration a trademark can be protected for a specific type of goods or services. The name of a product or service that was developed at the university might be an example. Registration is in the name of the university.

Basically, any graphic representations can be used as trademarks under the law: for example, words, combinations of letters, numerical, graphic images, three-dimensional forms, slogans, any combination of these elements, and a series of tones. Purely descriptive, aggrandizing or deceptive words cannot be registered as trademarks.

Registering a trademark gives the owner the exclusive right to use a certain sign for specific goods and services or to grant someone else the right to use it through licensing. The trademark holder can prevent others from using an identical or similar sign for the same or similar goods and services.

A trademark provides protection only in those countries where it is registered. In addition, a trademark is always protected only for certain classes of goods and services, which need to be indicated upon registration. If a trademark is not used for the registered products or services within five years of registration, then it might be invalidated. The term for trademark protection is 10 years and can be renewed indefinitely.

Copyright is a protection that covers individual, intellectual work, e.g. a text, a piece of music, fine art, computer programs or a combination of such works (multimedia products). A fully formulated text is protected by copyright, however, not the ideas and concepts behind it. The protection begins when any of the above described work is actually created and fixed in a tangible form. Although not compulsory, the use of a copyright sign is recommended (©).

The rights of the author or creator of the work are divided into the exploitation rights and the personality rights of the author or creator. The former includes the protection of the financial interests of the author or creator, such as the copying, distribution, rental, performance, or transmission of the work, whereas the latter includes recognition of authorship, the right to be the first to publish, the mentioning of author names, and the integrity of the work. Copyright expires 70 years (50 years in the case of computer programs) after the death of the author or creator.

A design is the visible form of a two-dimensional (such as fabric design) or three-dimensional object (such as a lamp). The protection of designs is hardly of relevance in the universities’ daily practices and is not described in more detail. Further information can be found on the website of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property.

Unitectra answers questions related to trademarks, copyright or design protection and offers assistance in the protection and exploitation of such intellectual property rights. We support you in your search for licensees, and help you with the negotiation and drafting of licensing agreements provided that the respective rights are owned by the university.