No protection for Apple’s word mark ‘Face ID’ in Switzerland

Apple does not receive any protection for the word mark ‘Face ID’ in Switzerland. The Federal Administrative Court has confirmed a corresponding decision of the Intellectual Property Institute. The mark is considered purely descriptive and has insufficient distinctive character. So it falls into the area of ​​the public domain.

The US company filed its trademark registration application with the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IGE) in August 2017. ‘Face ID’ should stand for biometric identification applications. This is evident from a ruling by the Federal Administrative Court published on Tuesday.

The institute rejected the application in September 2022. It considered that the word mark was directly descriptive of the categories of goods and services mentioned. Therefore, it is not regarded by user groups as a business-related indication of origin.

General usage

The Federal Administrative Court supports the IGE’s position. It highlights that ‘face’ and ‘ID’ are commonly used terms in English. Both the average user and security and IT specialists associate the combination with identification and facial recognition. Contrary to the complainant’s view, the term is not primarily associated with Apple.

The verdict is not yet final and can be appealed to the Federal Court. (Judgment B-4839/2022 of 5 October 2023) (sda)