Switzerland’s Federal Administrative Court, in judgment B-9329/2025 of 22 September 2026, published on Tuesday 20 October, upheld the refusal of Levi Strauss & Co.’s figurative mark for the curved stitching on back pockets. The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IGE) had rejected the application in October 2025. The mark is not registered.

The sign shows the outline of a back pocket with a curved double stitch. The San Francisco company calls the motif Arcuate Back Pocket Stitching and says it has used it on jeans since 1873. The application covers jeans, trousers, shorts and skirts.

The IGE held that such stitching is mainly ornamental, not a company identifier. Levi Strauss appealed to the court in St. Gallen. The judges confirmed the refusal on the main point: the drawing shows an ordinary back pocket, the dotted lines are decorative seams, the elements are simple, the sign is “rather banal” and does not stand out from the usual forms in the trade, so it belongs to the public domain.

The company won a partial point on its alternative claim. The IGE must now examine whether, through intensive and long use on the Swiss market, the stitching has become an indication of origin for those goods. Lawyers call that Verkehrsdurchsetzung, distinctiveness acquired through use. It is not a “generic mark” and it is not a registration.

Keystone-SDA reported the judgment on Tuesday; SWI swissinfo.ch and Nau.ch carried it. The ruling’s date is 22 September; Tuesday’s stories are the publication, not a new registration.

The IGE examination remains open. The ruling does not say Levi Strauss has won trademark protection in Switzerland, and it does not, by itself, extend any existing protection to other garments.

Image: Federal Administrative Court, St. Gallen, 18 May 2023, Hadi, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The court building, not a Levi's pocket.

Sources consulted: Levi Strauss seeks Swiss 'generic mark' for jeans stitching — SWI swissinfo.ch; Levi's erstreitet vor Gericht zweite Chance für Jeans-Ziernaht — Nau.ch.