Advanced search options
Add search operators to your search terms for a more targeted search or to search for terms with similar spellings. You can also limit the search to specific data fields. All search operators can be used in combination with each other.
Using AND or NOT to refine your search
If you search for several terms in the database, by default, these will be connected by ‘OR’. Each result will contain at least one of these terms.
Search | Results |
---|---|
james bond | “James Bond 007”, “JAMES DEAN”, “Petro Bond”. |
The search operator ‘AND’
If you combine search terms by using ‘AND’ (or ‘and’), you will find all IP rights that contain these search terms. You can also place a ‘+’ before the terms that must be included.
Search | Results |
---|---|
pro AND vita | “PROVITA Gesundheitsversicherung AG”, “VITA pro”, “ProVita Medical (fig.)” |
The search operator ‘NOT’
If you want to exclude search results containing specific terms, please combine the terms to be excluded by using ‘NOT’ (or ‘not’) or place a minus sign in front of them.
Search | Results |
---|---|
emmi NOT AG or: +emmi -AG | “Emmi-Dental”, “Emmi Ultrasonic GmbH”, “Emmi-Nail”, “EMMI PUR” |
Using “ ” to search for exact phrases
If you want to search for exact word/character sequences, please place them in quotation marks (e.g. “for you”). You will only obtain search results in which the word sequences match what you entered exactly. If you were to search without quotation marks, the results would show all IP rights that contain ‘for’ or ‘you’.
Search | Results |
---|---|
“for life” | “FOR LIFE”, “Wisdom for Life”, “RACE FOR LIFE” |
“quo vadis” | “Quo vadis Drossapharm”, “Quo Vadis Reisen” |
Using * and ? to search for terms with variable characters
You can use placeholders to search for terms with variable characters. For example, a word with various endings (table, tables, tablecloth) or words with different spellings (colour, color). You can position the placeholders at the start of the word, at the end, in the middle or in several places.
The options are:
- ‘?’ for exactly one sign
- ‘*’ for any number of signs (including zero)
Search | Results |
---|---|
eco* | “ECOM”, “Ecosolve”, “auto école lémanique”, “Swiss School of Economics” |
?itz | “Ritz-Carlton”, “Hitz & Partner”, “Kitz”, “César Ritz Collèges” |
*bier | “Ägeribier”, “Verbier Addict”, “Hommage au Gibier” |
set*e | “Sette Torri”, “Settore di formazione esame tessile”, “SETLINE”, “Never settle for less”, “Setelle” |
Using ~ to search for similar terms
Place a tilde symbol (~) at the end of a word to perform a fuzzy search, in other words, to search for similar terms. “Similar” means that you will find character strings that vary from your term by up to two operations (insertion, deletion or replacement of a letter).
Example: a search for “spot” will find “spit” (o is replaced by i – varies by one operation) and pet (s deleted and o is replaced by e).
Use ‘~1’ to allow terms to only differ by one operation (insertion, deletion or replacement of a letter) – and to obtain fewer results.
Keyboard shortcuts for the tilde symbol: for US Windows ‘Shift’ and ‘~’, for Mac OS ‘Alt’ and ‘N’, for Linux ‘Alt Gr’ and ‘+’, each followed by a space.
Search | Results |
---|---|
mars~1 | Pars, Lars, Marc O’Polo, Marsh Mellow, Star Wars |
mars~ | The same results as those for “mars~1”, plus Cara, Bass, Barr, for example |
Using [TO] to search within sections
You can use [TO] to search within a section, for example, within a number series.
Search | Results |
---|---|
trademarkno:[400000 TO 400100] | All trade marks with a trade mark number between 400000 and 400100 |
Searching within specific fields
By default, all trade mark titles, word elements of word/figurative marks, trade mark and application numbers, owner and representative addresses and goods and services will be searched. For example, if you search for “Sprüngli”, you will find all IP rights that contain “Sprüngli” in the title, as well as all IP rights belonging to the owner “Confiserie Sprüngli AG”.
For a more targeted search, you can limit your search to single data fields:
- after searching, via the results list
- or before searching, by inputting the field name in the search field
Searching a field via the results list
In the list of results and only in list view, all sources for your search term are displayed as active fields. By selecting one of these fields, you limit the search to the corresponding data field. In the example below, if you clicked on the field "Title: MARS ROUGE", the search results would only contain terms with ‘mars’ in the title.

Searching a field via the search box
You can also input the fields you want to search directly into the search box. To do so, add the field name as a prefix before the search term (e.g. owner:migros).
The following fields are available:
Field | Description | Example |
---|---|---|
Title | Title of the trade mark | title:caran d’ache |
Word element | Word element of word/figurative marks | wordelement:hero |
Trade mark number | Six-digit number | trademarkno:694783 |
Application number | Five-digit number | applicationno:74422 |
Owner | Individual or company. | owner:“Peter Meyer”, owner:migros, owner:zürich |
Representative | Individual or company that represents the trade mark owner vis à vis the IPI. | representative:müller |
LGS | Goods and services and the Nice Classification | lgs:bier or lgs:32 |
The field search can also be combined with search operators such as placeholders or AND or NOT connectors.
Examples:
Search | Results |
---|---|
title:family title:familie | Trade marks (and applications) with the word element ‘family’ or ‘Familie’ in the title, e.g. “Happy Family”, “SCHWEIZER FAMILIE” |
wordelement:bio | Registered word/figurative marks with the word element ‘bio’ in classes 25 and 3, e.g. “BIO-SANA” |
title:camille -owner:bloch | Trade marks (and applications) with the word element ‘camille’ in the title, but also trade marks (and applications) owned by Chocolats Camille Bloch SA, e.g. “Café Camille” |
owner:“Tissot SA” +representative:* | Trade marks (and applications) registered by a representative of Tissot SA, e.g. “SEAMATIC” |
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