SWITZERLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Tobias Meili, Damian Schai, André S Berne and Isabel Wahl-Zeller, Wenger Plattner
11. Collective Redress 11.1 Group Claims
ing validity claims. The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) accepts arbitration awards on the validity of Swiss intellectual prop - erty rights for enforcement, provided they are accompanied by a certificate of enforcement issued by the state court at the seat of the arbi - tration court. Since patent disputes are often based on non- contractual grounds and often require rapid initial intervention before the state courts, arbi - tration agreements prior to the outbreak of a dispute are rare. Although mediation is available for all sorts of civil cases, including intellectual property mat - ters, it is not commonly used. The Swiss healthcare market is characterised by competition, which is why it is generally recog - nised that competition law applies to this sector, including the pharmaceutical markets (FSC 141 III 66). In recent times, the focus of the Swiss competition authorities and courts has mainly been on the pricing of prescription-only medici - nal products. Nevertheless, it should be noted that scrutiny may extend to other domains as well, particularly in the context of preventing par - allel imports of patented products, in situations involving the blocking of patents, or in cases involving patent trolls. 10. Settlement/Antitrust 10.1 Considerations and Scrutiny
In general, group claims are not available in Swit - zerland. Only associations and other organisa - tions of national or regional importance author - ised by their statutes of association to protect the interests of a specific group may use a form of “group action”. This group action is limited to personal rights, and includes negatory and non-monetary reparatory claims. Consequently, group claims are of limited relevance. Although the broader implementation of group claims has been a topic of prolonged political discourse in Switzerland for several years, there is currently no indication of an early introduction.
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