Facts
The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG, owner of the "PULS" trademark for television programmes, brought an action against Puls Media AG, which had registered the "PULS-Tip" trademark for a publication after the end of their partnership. The Commercial Court of the Canton of Zurich partially granted SRG's request, prohibiting Puls Media AG from using the designations "PULS-Tipp", "Puls-Dossier", "Puls-Tipp-Dossier" and "Puls-Tipp-Telefon". Puls Media AG appealed against this judgment.Considerations
The DFC dismissed the appeal. It confirmed that trademark law does not constitute a special regulation that takes precedence over unfair competition law. Thus, the owner of a protected trademark can be prohibited from using it if such use is unfair, even if the trademark has not been used during the legal grace period.
In this case, Puls Media AG acted unfairly by registering and using, after the termination of the partnership, a sign that SRG had been the first to use, thus creating a risk of…