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Time Warner Entertainment Company L.P. (referred to here as Time Warner) produces the famous television series "Friends", some sequences of which take place in a fictional café called "Central Perk". Time Warner has owned the name "Central Perk" in the United States since 1995 for "class 25" products (clothing, shoes, hats), and registered the name "Friends" in Switzerland in 1996 for products in the same category. The company Gengenie S.A. runs a café in Geneva called "Central Perk". In November 1998, the company's sole director registered the name "Central Perk where we're your Friends" in Switzerland....

In a ruling of 13 February 2001, the Swiss Bundesgericht (Federal Court) refused to apply a more liberal interpretation of the current Swiss regulations on TV advertising and thus follow the less restrictive provisions of the European Convention on Transfrontier Television. The private TV broadcaster TV3, which had interrupted its hour-long programme Leisten after around 30 minutes with a trailer and a block of advertising, had asked the Court to adopt a more liberal interpretation. Section 18.2 of the Swiss RTVG (Radio and Television Act) provides that "single programmes" lasting less then 90...

The Swiss Federal Communications Commission (ComCom) is taking its first step towards the unbundling of local loops and, in a decision of 10 November 2000, issued as a precautionary measure, ordered Swisscom to grant a request by diAx for the unbundling variant Bitstream Access. In partnership with diAx, Swisscom must work out a standard offer for both Shared Line Access and Full Access. As part of the standard prognoses made during the process of taking precautionary measures, ComCom found that unbundling should almost certainly be considered part of the requirement for interconnection. All three...

The Swiss Federal Council has published its communication to the Federal Parliament on the Culture and Cinematographic Production Bill. The bill is broadly based on the proposal drawn up by the committee of experts and is aimed at providing the Swiss cinematographic industry with modern incentives in keeping with current needs and realities. The main objectives of the bill are to encourage independent cinematographic production and to promote diversity among the films on offer in Switzerland. The effectiveness of the incentives for the cinema, whether selective or success-related, is to be assessed...

Over 170 organisations of interested groups, parties and cantons have until the end of April 2001 to give their views on a draft of a new Radio- und Fernsehgesetz (Radio and Television Act - RTVG). The draft incorporates the principles of media policy set out in the discussion paper, which the Bundesrat (Swiss Federal Council) published in January 2000 (see IRIS 2000-2: 4). By channelling responsibilities and available funds (licence fees), to the Schweizerische Radio- und Fernsehgesellschaft (Swiss Radio and Television CorporationSRG), it should be possible to provide a public service offering...