The European Commission and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) renewed for the third consecutive year their “SME Fund” support scheme, which allows SMEs to get a partial reimbursement of fees for the registration of intellectual property (IP) titles (trademarks, designs, patents and plant varieties). In its latest version, the reimbursement possibilities of the SME Fund have been extended to additional options, including higher reimbursement rates and patent searches.
Intellectual Property (IP) is typically based on the results of any innovative process. Nowadays, with the ongoing dematerialisation of goods and services, IP may represent the core and most valuable asset of companies.
Innovative by essence, start-ups are heavily IP based.
As a core asset, IP rights must be carefully managed, starting with the identification of a company’s IP to, where appropriate, its protection. IP rights should be monitored and managed in line with the company’s objectives, taking into account their specific characteristics, for example:
- The name used to identify specific products or services (or even the sign used as the company name) can be protected by trademarks, ensuring a monopoly on the use of the names and visual identity chosen for the products or services that are to be protected
- The external appearance of a product might be subject to design protection
- Technical inventions can be protected by patents. Computer implemented inventions, such as software, can also be protected by this type of IP right.
IP clearly is a driver of the innovative process. The European Commission has therefore decided to continue offering throughout 2023 the partial reimbursement of IP filing fees to SMEs to ensure an effective use and deployment of Intellectual Property by SMEs. This year, the SME Fund includes new features, including a higher reimbursement rate, new grant amounts and new reimbursement options for prior art patent searches and filing of community plant varieties.
Since it is dedicated to all SMEs, the SME Fund also applies to start-ups. Therefore: do not hesitate to take benefit of this very attractive reimbursement scheme! All applications for the SME Fund 2023 have to be submitted before 8 December 2023. Support will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
To better understand the challenges of IP for your company, the experts of the “Institut de la Propriété Intellectuelle Luxembourg” (IPIL G.I.E.), are at your disposal to provide further explanations and answer your questions. IPIL also offers free of charge coaching sessions (Boost IP coaching) as well as an online IP pre-diagnosis to provide you with guidance.
The SME Fund initiative is managed by the European Commission and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). It provides a reimbursement of up to 75% on IP rights registrations. In Luxembourg, the initiative is supported by the Intellectual Property Office of the Ministry of the Economy (Office de la propriété intellectuelle, ministère de l’Economie), the Institut de la Propriété Intellectuelle Luxembourg, and the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property.
For more information on IP, including the SME Fund, you can either contact the IPIL G.I.E, at [email protected] (website www.ipil.lu) or the Office de la propriété intellectuelle, Ministère de l’Economie, at [email protected].
