Once a green trade mark is registered, it’s protected in Switzerland for ten years from the filing date, just like any other registered Swiss trade mark. The owner is obliged to use the trade mark within five years of registering it. Otherwise they risk losing this right. Owners of identical or similar trade marks that were registered earlier may oppose the use of the subsequently registered trade mark by filing an opposition or bringing a civil action.

The trade mark must be used in accordance with legal requirements and must meet the expectations it creates among consumers. Greenwashing has been prohibited in the area of green trade marks since 1 January 2025. Trade mark owners must not act unfairly. According to the Federal Act on Unfair Competition (UCA), a person acts unfairly if they “provide incorrect or misleading information about themselves, their business, their business name, their goods, works or services, their prices, their volume in stock, the nature of the sales transaction or about their business relationships or benefit third parties in competition through such conduct” (Art. 3 para.1 let. b UCA). The same applies to those who “make claims about themselves, their goods, works or services relating to the environmental impact that they cause that cannot be substantiated on the basis of objective and verifiable criteria” (Art. 3 para. 1 let. x UCA). The Swiss Fair Trading Commission (Schweizerische Lauterkeitskommission) publishes some of its decisions on its website (de, fr, it). The site thus provides an overview of case law in the area of unfair competition.
 
If you have any questions about these topics, please email us at greentrademarksnot shown@ipito make life hard for spam bots.ch.