Board of Appeal for Intellectual Property set to be replaced

From January 1 2007, appeals against decisions of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property in trademark matters - including appeals against oppositions against trademark registrations - will no longer be handled by the Federal Board of Appeal for Intellectual Property. Instead, appeals will go to a new Administrative Court.

The Board of Appeal for Intellectual Property consists exclusively of IP specialists, mainly patent and trademark specialists (only the president works on a full-time basis, all other members are engaged part-time). The board has 10 members and a secretary.

As part of federal judiciary reforms, it was decided that the Board of Appeal for Intellectual Property should be abolished as of December 31 2006 and be replaced by the newly formed Administrative Court, which will have its seat in St Gallen. One of the chambers of the Administrative Court (the Second chamber, consisting of eight judges) will deal with IP matters - but not exclusively. Only one of the eight judges of the chamber will remain from the old Board of Appeal, namely the President Dr David Aschmann.

Peter Heinrich, Lenz & Staehelin, Zurich