Swiss national group AIPPI General Assembly, Swiss Day and 100 Years Celebration

The Swiss national group of AIPPI convened on 16 April 2026 in Bern for the General Assembly and the annual Swiss Day seminar with substantive legal discussions on topics related to this year’s AIPPI Study Questions and the celebration of the 100-year anniversary of the AIPPI Swiss national group. The event brought together practitioners, academics, and industry representatives as well as the presidents of AIPPI Italy and AIPPI France.

The General Assembly was followed by a standing lunch that provided an opportunity for informal exchange among members. The Swiss Day seminar took place in the afternoon with presentations and discussions related to two of this year’s AIPPI Study questions: parody (and freedom of expression) as a defense to trademark infringement (Q298) and divisional applications and double patenting (Q297).

The first session was opened by a presentation of Prof. Alfred Früh of the University of Basel providing a systematic view and analysis of legal differences between the EU and Switzerland in approaching parody in trademark law. This was followed by Dr. Klaudia Blach-Morysińska, Advocate, Patent Attorney, Partner at Zaborski Morysińki and Assistant Reporter General of AIPPI, who gave an overview of selected decisions across different jurisdictions where parody and freedom of expression were involved as defense to trademark infringement. Fabian Wigger, Attorney at Law and Partner at Weinmann Zimmerli, then gave a very insightful presentation outlining the Swiss perspective along with a selection of trademark decisions of Swiss courts where parody and freedom of expression were issues.

The second session was then directed to patent law where Gilles Pfend, Patent Attorney and Partner at Katzarov, summarized the legal basis related to divisional applications and the practice in view of double patenting before the European Patent Office and the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property. Josua Wehner, European Patent Attorney at Interpharma, provided the perspective of the industry, emphasizing how these legal issues impact innovation strategy and patent portfolio management in practice, and gave an overview on antitrust issues summarizing the recent Teva/Copaxone case.

The day was completed by the celebration of the 100-year anniversary of the AIPPI Swiss national group. Prof. Alfred Früh contributed an impressive Festschrift containing an overview of historical developments and perspectives of Swiss IP law. The participants gathered on the Sky Terrace of the Hotel Schweizerhof for a standing dinner and a special cocktail based on Verzaschella, a special Ticino beverage, as provided by Marco Zardi, President of AIPPI Switzerland.