The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has made funding available again in 2024 for the protection of intellectual property of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

This year, four different vouchers are available for SMEs:

1. Voucher 1 to cover the cost of initial intellectual property strategy consultations (IP Scan) and enforcement consultations when a conflict has arisen (IP Scan Enforcement);
2. Voucher 2 for registering trademarks and designs, whereas applicants can recover up to 75% of the official fees (capped at 1000 EUR);
3. Voucher 3 for patenting inventions and doing prior art searches, whereas applicants can recover up to 75% of the filing and search fees and 50% of drafting costs (capped at 3500 EUR);
4. Voucher 4 for protecting Community Plant Varieties, whereas applicants can recover up to 75% of the application fees (capped at 1500 EUR).

Registering your intellectual property is a crucial step, especially when trading in a wider foreign market. It can protect against priority disputes and prevent the use of similar marks and designs. Without registration, inventions, designs and trademarks may be registered by others and the true creators may be prevented from using them.

For example, the cost of registering national and EU trademarks and designs is quite steep – the official fee for registering an EU trademark starts at €850. For small and medium-sized enterprises, this assistance becomes important when considering project financing. Applying for grants from the SME Fund grant scheme is an excellent opportunity to take care of IP protection without incurring high costs.

If you have any specific questions about the grant scheme, please feel free to contact our experts.

Please note:

Not all vouchers are available in every jurisdiction, and the maximum grant amounts can differ for voucher 1.