Patent law (national and international)
This domain tests the substantive law that surrounds a Swiss patent: the PatG and its ordinance (PatV), the EPC as it applies to Switzerland since 1 July 2008, the PCT and the Paris Convention. Questions usually combine a national validity point with a treaty point, so state which instrument governs before you analyse.
The national core
- Art. 1 PatG: patents are granted for inventions in all fields of technology that are new, based on an inventive step and are industrially applicable.
- Exclusions (PatG Art. 1–2): inventions whose exploitation offends human dignity, public order or morality; surgical or therapeutic treatment methods and diagnostic methods practised on the human or animal body; and the classic 'as such' categories - discoveries, scientific theories, mathematical methods, aesthetic creations, schemes and rules for mental acts, games or business, programs for data processing, presentations of information.
- Novelty is absolute: anything made available to the public before the filing or priority date counts, in any language and in any form.
The registration character of the Swiss patent
The IPI examines formalities, the exclusion grounds and unity. It does not examine novelty, inventive step, clarity, support or sufficiency; those are decided, if at all, by the Federal Patent Court in a nullity or infringement action. Term is 20 years from filing, with annual fees running from the fourth year.
The international layer
- EPC: a European patent designating CH takes effect as a national patent; Switzerland and Liechtenstein form a single protection territory, so the European patent is granted jointly for both states.
- PCT: national/regional phase at 30 or 31 months; the EPO acts as ISA and IPEA; amendments under Art. 19 and Art. 34.
- Paris: 12-month priority, assessed claim by claim and subject-matter by subject-matter (G 2/98).
Worked example
A US provisional filed 10 January 2024 describes a valve with a ceramic seat. The PCT application filed 8 January 2025 adds a claim feature 'seat coated with DLC'. A German application published 1 March 2024 discloses a ceramic-seat valve. In the EP regional phase the claim reads 'valve with a DLC-coated ceramic seat'. Priority is assessed per claim and per subject-matter: the DLC feature is not directly and unambiguously derivable from the provisional, so that claim cannot enjoy priority and the German publication becomes prior art under Art. 54(2) EPC. Remedy: keep a DLC-free claim on the priority date, or accept the later date for the DLC claim and argue inventive step over the German document.
Traps
Treating a granted Swiss patent as substantively validated - the IPI never checked novelty. Believing the unitary patent or the UPC has any effect on Swiss patents. Forgetting that 'Switzerland' in patent terms means Switzerland plus Liechtenstein. Importing the EPO problem-solution approach into an IPI formal examination.