Milking Equipment Trademark Registration Abuse

The court addressed a dispute where a service provider registered a well-known international brand belonging to a leading manufacturer of milking equipment in Switzerland. The court reasoned that the claim for trademark transfer failed because the claimant did not sufficiently substantiate the notoriety of their mark in Switzerland by providing specific facts on market share, investment, or geographic spread, which is required under the general burden of proof rules (§ 70 ZPO) that mandate stating facts, not just legal conclusions. However, the court found that the registration constituted an abuse of rights under Art. 2 Abs. 2 ZGB because the defendant knew of the claimant's prior extensive use of the identical mark for the same goods and sought to exploit a formal legal advantage to hinder the true rights holder without a legitimate purpose, leading to the declaration of the defendant's registration as null and void.