Mandate
In a motion submitted to the Federal Council in 2012, the Federal Council was requested to better defend and manage the military brands. This motion was triggered by the fact that various companies use the brands without surrendering any licence fees to the Swiss Confederation. Since 2014, armasuisse has been instructed, according to directives on brand policy from the DDPS Department, to ensure brand protection and the registration of military brands at home and abroad.
The Federal Council was instructed by Parliament in 2013 to better protect and defend the military brands, in particular the brands «Swiss Army», «Swiss Military» and «Swiss Air Force» and to commercialise them by means of licence agreements. The parliamentary mandate was based on the fact that third-party companies at home and abroad have been using the brands on an unauthorised basis since the end of the 1980s. The brand protection system set up by the company Victorinox AG in cooperation with the Swiss Confederation exhibited gaps both at home and abroad, which encouraged the emergence of freeloaders and made Parliament take action.
Based on the parliamentary mandate from 2013, the development of the adjudication on the military brands as official signs and a potential analysis, armasuisse subjected the military brand strategy to a cross-department review in 2021.
Accordingly, armasuisse remains responsible for the protection, defence and commercialisation of the military brands and works on implementation together with the partners involved, including the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI).