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FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions

• Can I now submit requests via e-mail?

  Most requests may be submitted directly using one of the following e-mail addresses: tm.admin@ekomm.ipi.ch, patent.admin@ekomm.ipi.ch, design.admin@ekomm.ipi.ch copyright.admin@ekomm.ipi.ch origin.admin@ekomm.ipi.ch. Please note that a signed copy of the request and/or further supporting documents may be required for certain types of requests due to legal regulations. Such requests are only considered complete when the respective documents are sent as an attachment to the e-mail containing the request.
  For example:
  • Requests to divide a trade mark must be signed and the submission sent as an e-mail attachment.
  • Requests for transfer of an IP right require a certificate of transfer which must be sent as an attachment.
  • Withdrawing a patent application, waiving the right to a patent in part or entirely, waiving an SPC or amending the inventor name still require a signature and therefore must be submitted as a PDF attachment to an e-mail.
  
  

• If submitting by the postal service requires several copies, must I also include several copies when submitting by e-mail?

  No. One copy (e.g. the technical specifications for a patent application) is enough when submitting as an attachment via e-mail.
  
  

• Do I need to install additional software?

  No. You can use your usual e-mail program to send submissions to the following addresses: tm.admin@ekomm.ipi.ch, patent.admin@ekomm.ipi.ch, design.admin@ekomm.ipi.ch, copyright.admin@ekomm.ipi.ch and origin.admin@ekomm.ipi.ch. However, if you want to send your documents encrypted, you must first download and import the respective security certificate from the IPI.
  
  

• What are the technical details I need to know?

  The technical details are explained in the terms of use.
  
  

• Verification of the hash values of your attachments

  You can check the hash values and attachment sizes specified in the test report for verification purposes.
  
  
  This is to enable you to determine whether we received the attachments correctly and unmodified.
  
  To do this, calculate the hash values on your computer for all attachments and compare these with those values given in the test protocol.
  
  Here you will find instructions to download and install a small program to locally calculate the hash values. Use the hash algorithm SHA-256 (sha256deep.exe) to calculate the values.
  
  

• What should be observed when using a digital signature?

  To digitally sign your submission, you need your own digital signature. Such signatures can be obtained from various suppliers and must be installed in your e-mail system.
  When creating an e-mail, select "Signature". Your submission will be endorsed with your personal digital signature and sent to the IPI.
  
  

• How does encryption work?

  Please note that to send encrypted submissions, you first need your own digital signature that must also be suitable for the encryption of e-mails. Such signatures can be obtained from various suppliers and must be installed in your e-mail system.
  Then download the IPI Security Certificate and import this into your e-mail program. Finally, when creating your e-mail, select "Encrypt". Your submission will be encrypted with the IPI public key and can only be opened again by the IPI. In addition, the IPI will send you an encrypted confirmation e-mail together with your digital signature.
  
  



SPAM

• The IPI confirmation of receipt e-mails keep landing in my spam folder. What can I do?

  Add our sender address, no-reply@ekomm.ipi.ch, to your e-mail program’s list of safe senders.
  
  

• I received a message from the IPI saying that my e-mail was quarantined as spam. What should I do?

  The message you received contains a link. If you click on the link, you will be directed to a website where you can release your e-mail submission. Alternatively, you can contact the IPI and have us release your e-mail submission. To avoid having your e-mails blocked as spam, you can have your sender address added to the IPI’s white list. Please contact us for this as well.
  
  

• I only released my e-mail five days later. Which date is now valid for the submission in terms of meeting time limits?

  Our system saves e-mail submissions which have been blocked as spam for 30 days in case they are released. When you release your e-mail, the original date of receipt on the e-mail is considered binding and not the date when it was released. For your information, both dates are included in the PDF file attached to the receipt of confirmation e-mail.
  
  

• Spam

  All e-mail submissions are checked for SPAM. If an e-mail is identified as SPAM, it can fall into one of the following categories depending on the contents identified:
  • High SPAM
    If an e-mail is identified as High SPAM, it is automatically deleted without any message to the sender.
  • Medium SPAM
    If an e-mail is identified as Medium SPAM, it is first isolated. The sender receives an e-mail containing a link where it can be released. If the e-mail is released within the time period indicated, it is forwarded to the recipient at the Institute of Intellectual Property. If the deadline is not met, the e-mail is deleted as SPAM and the sender receives no further message.
    
    It is also possible to have your e-mail address entered into the Institute of Intellectual Property's white list. Transactions coming from an e-mail address on the white list are processed without being checked for SPAM.
    To be entered into the white list, send an e-mail listing the e-mail addresses to one of the following five addresses:
    
    • For patent transactions patent.admin@ekomm.ipi.ch
    • For trademark transactions tm.admin@ekomm.ipi.ch
    • For designs transactions design.admin@ekomm.ipi.ch
    • For copyright transactions copyright.admin@ekomm.ipi.ch
    • For PDO-PGI transactions origin.admin@ekomm.ipi.ch
  
  



Questions concerning communication problems

• What should I do when I do not receive a confirmation of receipt?

  First, check your junk or spam mailbox to see if your spam filter might have blocked the confirmation e-mail. If you still cannot find a confirmation e-mail, then contact the IPI.
  Please Note: For submissions with time limits, no confirmation receipt means that the IPI has NOT received the submission! If this happens, immediately resend your submission to the IPI via the postal service or fax.
  
  

• Invalid Signature

  In processing your transaction e-mail, we determined that the signature is invalid.
  This can be due to various reasons:
  • The certificate for the signature has expired.
    Renew the certificate used for the signature.
  • The certificate comes from an unsafe source
    Make sure that the certificate for your signature is only from a trustworthy provider. More information on this topic can be found here.
  • The transaction e-mail was altered:
    The e-mail was altered on its way to the Institute of Intellectual Property and therefore needed to be returned. Please resend your transaction.
  
  

• Invalid attachment

  Your transaction contained an attachment which cannot be accepted by the Institute of Intellectual Property.
  
  Only the following data types can be accepted:
  • pdf, jpg, bmp, tif, psd, pcd, eps, gif, png
  • zip, gzip, bzip, tar
  • txt, MS Office 2003-compatible formats, ODF-formats (Open Office)
  
  Transaction e-mails with other types of data will be automatically returned!
  
  
  Changes as of 01.10.2018
  For technical reasons, as of 01.10.2018 the IPI can no longer receive submissions of the following file types. Submissions with these file types as an attachment will be automatically deleted:
  • Write-protected PDF files
  • Archive file formats (e.g. .zip, .gzip, .bzip, .tar)
    Exception: ZIP files may still be submitted to design.admin@ekomm.ipi.ch
  • Email files (e.g. xyz.eml) as an attachment
  • XML files
  
  
  Please also note that we cannot accept e-mails larger than 20 Mbytes or containing more than 10 attachments. If the size of the e-mail or the number of attachments exceeds these limits, the transaction e-mail will be automatically refused.
  
  Transaction e-mails with the following are absolutely not accepted:
  • Executable data
  • Encrypted data
  
  If one of these is the case, the transaction e-mail will be automatically refused.
  
  Transaction e-mails containing individual attachments not meeting the above requirements will also be automatically refused.
  
  

• Recipient unknown

  The recipient address in your e-mail does not exist. Please resend your transaction to one of the following five e-mail addresses:
  
  
  • For patent transactions patent.admin@ekomm.ipi.ch
  • For trademark transactions tm.admin@ekomm.ipi.ch
  • For designs transactions design.admin@ekomm.ipi.ch
  • For copyright transactions copyright.admin@ekomm.ipi.ch
  • For PDO-PGI transactions origin.admin@ekomm.ipi.ch
  
  

• Decryption errors or invalid encryption

  In order for us to read an encrypted transaction e-mail, the sender must encrypt his/her e-mail before it is sent using the Institute of Intellectual Property's public key.
  Further technical information on encryption using this public key can be found under Certificates.
  Any encrypted transaction e-mail not using this public key will be automatically deleted as unreadable.