European grant fund for the intellectual property rights of SMEs

Are you a small or medium-sized business?
Are you considering registering a trademark or design either at national or EU level?
This program might interest you. You can request a 50% refund of the basic fees for filing trademark and/or design applications.

The EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) is launching a 20 million euro grant fund (Ideas Powered for Business) intended to improve access to intellectual property rights for small and medium-sized businesses established in the European Union. Starting January 11, 2021, they can submit their requests to benefit from this program.
The “Ideas Powered for Business” Fund for SMEs, supported by the European Commission and the EUIPO, is aimed at companies wishing to develop their intellectual property (hereinafter “IP”) strategies and protect their IP rights, at national, regional and EU levels.
This SME Fund, which covers IP pre-diagnostic services (IP scan) and/or trademark and design applications, can help you boost your business, and your brand.

Each SME can receive a maximum reimbursement of EUR 1,500.

Who can benefit from it?

This grant fund is open to all EU companies meeting the official definition of an SME. It is aimed directly at small and medium-sized businesses established in the 27 EU Member States,

If your company is established in one of the countries of the European Union, and meets the official EU definition of an SME, you can submit a request for assistance for the services described above. What is an SME, according to the official European Union definition? The definition of SMEs takes into account the following three criteria: • workforce; • annual turnover; • annual balance sheet total. The category of micro, small and medium enterprises consists of companies: • which employ less than 250 people and • whose annual turnover does not exceed 50 million euros or whose annual balance sheet total does not exceed 43 million euros.

What for?

It offers financial support in the form of reimbursements for trademark and design applications. SMEs can thus benefit from a 50% reduction on basic fees for filing applications for national and EU trademarks and designs, up to a maximum amount of 1,500 euros per company.
Reimbursement for costs relating to two types of services is possible. These are:

• Service 1: IP pre-diagnosis services (“IP scan” which covers intellectual property asset evaluation services, and business model study, products and/or services of your company, as part of an intellectual property development strategy; services provided by national intellectual property offices);

• Service 2: Trademark and design applications at national, regional (Benelux) and EU levels

How to do it?

The distribution of this fund will be done in five phases (periods) in 2021. The schedule for the first two periods is organized as follows:

The rule applicable to this distribution is that of first come – first served. Requests will therefore be processed in the order they arrive. All the more reason to prepare your application as soon as possible.

LegalProtech Avocats can support you on several levels:

• On the registration of your trademark and/or design or model,
• On the submission of a grant application under this “PI PME” Fund

By Samuel DENIN – LEGALPROTECH-AVOCATS Lawyer