International · CH
Trademark refusal rate in Switzerland: Madrid System filings
196,509 international registrations on record designate Switzerland. Among the 30,498 designations registered 2019–2022 (the resolved cohort we measure outcomes on), 12.8% received a provisional refusal, 1,162 (3.8%) are still refused outright, 12 partially, and 29,161 (95.6%) hold a grant of protection. That refusal rate is below the 4.4% median across the 60 most-designated offices.
How U.S. companies fare in Switzerland compared with 60+ other offices: where U.S. trademark owners get refused abroad.
31% of the registrations designating Switzerland also designate the United States. Those appear in USPTO data as well, so a USPTO clearance check catches them; the rest are invisible to a U.S.-only search.
Most-designated Nice classes in Switzerland
| Class | Goods / services | Registrations |
|---|---|---|
| Class 9 | Computers & Electronics | 54,131 |
| Class 35 | Advertising & Business | 36,600 |
| Class 42 | Computer & Scientific | 35,055 |
| Class 5 | Pharmaceuticals | 25,702 |
| Class 25 | Clothing | 24,953 |
| Class 41 | Education & Entertainment | 24,116 |
| Class 3 | Cosmetics & Cleaning | 23,913 |
| Class 16 | Paper Goods | 20,398 |
| Class 7 | Machinery | 17,310 |
| Class 18 | Leather Goods | 15,333 |
Who files into Switzerland
Office of origin of the registrations designating Switzerland, where the filers are based.
| Office of origin | Registrations | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Germany (DE) | 37,955 | 19.3% |
| European Union (EM) | 34,914 | 17.8% |
| France (FR) | 29,284 | 14.9% |
| Italy (IT) | 17,063 | 8.7% |
| United States (US) | 14,438 | 7.3% |
| Benelux (BX) | 13,262 | 6.7% |
| Germany (DT) (DT) | 7,624 | 3.9% |
| China (CN) | 6,496 | 3.3% |
International registrations designating Switzerland, by registration year
Registrations on record by the year they were registered internationally. Our copy covers registrations with activity since July 2025, so older years reflect renewals and decisions, not original volume.
| Year | Registrations | Volume |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 7,438 | |
| 2018 | 6,917 | |
| 2019 | 7,355 | |
| 2020 | 7,331 | |
| 2021 | 7,329 | |
| 2022 | 8,483 | |
| 2023 | 10,155 | |
| 2024 | 12,517 | |
| 2025 | 13,916 | |
| 2026 | 7,316 |
Planning to designate Switzerland? Run your mark through the free clearance risk check. It searches the international register in your classes and shows where similar marks were refused. If your mark has a logo, screen it with logo similarity search.