EU Launches €47 Million Fund to Protect SME Intellectual Property

In January, the European Commission and European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) launched the new EU SME Fund, which offers vouchers for EU-based SMEs (small and medium enterprises) to help them protect their intellectual property rights.

This is the second EU SME Fund aiming at supporting SMEs in the COVID-19 recovery and green and digital transitions for the next three years (2022-2024). 

Margrethe Vestager, European Commission Executive Vice-President in charge of competition policy, said: ‘small is beautiful, but if SMEs want to grow or take the lead in new technologies, they need to protect their inventions and creations, as big companies do. New ideas and expertise are the main added value we have in the EU. With this Fund, we want to support SMEs to face those peculiar times and remain strong and innovative through the decades to come’.

The EU Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, said: ‘it goes without saying that SMEs have been particularly impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. But what does not change is that they remain the backbone of our economy, of our ecosystems. This Fund will support SMEs to valorise their innovations and creativity. And this is crucial for SMEs to recapitalise and drive the green and digital transitions’.

The EU SME Fund, with a budget of €47 million, will offer support that includes reimbursing 75% of the fees charged by intellectual property offices for trademark and design registration, 50% of World Intellectual Property Organisation fees for obtaining international trademark and design protection, and 50% of national patent office fees for the registration of patents in 2022.