Through its SME Fund, the European Union has decided to co-finance small and medium-sized enterprises in protecting their intellectual property (IP) rights. The total amount earmarked by the European Union for this purpose is EUR 20 million.
Every small and medium-sized enterprise that meets the prescribed prerequisites can realize the following benefits:
- 75% discount on the price of the intellectual property pre-diagnostic service (IP Scan),
- 50% discount on the basic fee for applying national trademarks and designs and those at EU level.
The maximum return that an individual entrepreneur can achieve through this procedure is EUR 1500.
In order to apply for the program of co-financing and return of funds invested in the protection of intellectual property rights, it is necessary to take the following steps:
- apply via the website of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO)
- within 30 days from the date of receipt of the decision approving the application for co-financing, submit an application and pay to the competent authority a fee for the protection of trademark, design and / or implementation of intellectual property pre-diagnostics (IP Scan);
- upon payment of the fee for trademark protection, design and / or implementation of intellectual property pre-diagnostics (IP Scan), submit a request for reimbursement of the paid funds in the amount specified in the decision approving the co-financing request.
The time periods in which it is still possible to submit an application (request) for obtaining financing are from 1 May 2021 to 31 May 2021, from 1 July 2021 to 31 July 2021 and from 1 September 2021 to 30 September 2021.
Filip Dmitrašinović
