Descriptive and freely available names cannot be protected One speaks of absolute protection exclusion reasons in this context. The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IGE) refuses to sign entries in the trade mark register which are attributable to the public good or for which there is a need to keep free in favor of the competition. As a result, fanciful names and logos must be sought for products and services.

In addition, the new brand name must be clearly different from existing brands that are registered for the same or similar products. Otherwise, trademark registration by holders of older trademarks can be revoked by appeal to the IPI or civil action brought before a court (relative grounds for exclusion). In other words: There must be careful research whether there are older, confusable trademarks.