The date the patent application is submitted is considered the filing date. For first filings, the priority period starts from this date.

If the application fulfils the conditions for a filing date, you will receive a filing receipt and an invoice for the application fee. We also check the formal requirements of the application. If there are any deficiencies, you will be notified of them.

We recommend that you clarify whether your invention is novel and inventive with a state of the art search. You can do this by requesting a Swiss Patent Application Search at the IPI within 14 months. You also have the option of requesting an International-Type Search through us within six months. This search is carried out by the European Patent Office.
A search fee must be paid in both cases.

Eighteen months after the application or where appropriate after the priority date, we publish the patent application and – if available – the search report in the IPI's IP rights database on www.swissreg.ch.

Around two to three years after the application, we ask you to pay the examination fee.
In the substantive examination, patent experts examine the technical content of the patent application, i.e.  does the patent application meet the legal requirements? They will notify you of any deficiencies and request that you remedy them. There is no examination for novelty and inventive step.

Renewal fees are payable from the fourth year after applying for a patent, regardless of whether or not the patent has been granted. It is therefore possible that the first renewal fee must be paid before the patent has been granted. Renewal fees increase annually until the 20th year - the more mature the patent, the more it costs to protect it. Costs and fees

The patent is granted if the legal requirements have been met. The granted patent specification is published on www.swissreg.ch.

A patent expires at the latest 20 years after the application. Expired patents form part of the state of the art (or prior art). If the renewal fees are not paid, the invention is no longer protected by its patent.