Author: Boyana Boyadzhieva
The opportunity to apply for a Voucher 3 (Patents) grant has been temporarily closed as funds have been exhausted due to the large number of applications received.
The Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) Fund, offers financial support to SMEs established in the European Union, covering up to 90 % of the costs of almost all activities that SMEs have to carry out in the process of obtaining protection for their intellectual property. The aim of the Fund is to help businesses increase their competitiveness through better protection and exploitation of intellectual property rights.
The Fund will support SMEs until the end of 2024, covering the period from 22 January 2024 to 6 December 2024, although it is possible that the period will be shorter due to the exhaustion of funds, as this is the last year in which SMEs can benefit from the possibility of reimbursement of state fees for intellectual property (IP) protection and interest in the Fund is high.
The Patent Voucher reimburses fees for the following items:
- 75 % reimbursement of the fees for a ‘Prior Art Search Report’.
- 75 % reimbursement of a patent pre-grant (filing, search and examination), grant, and publication fees for national protection in Bulgaria.
- 75 % reimbursement of filing and search fees for European patents filed at EPO. All other fees for a European patent are excluded.
- 50 % reimbursement of legal costs for European patent application drafting and filing with a maximum amount of EUR 2 000. Reimbursement is subject to the following conditions:
- the service relates to the drafting and filing of a European patent application;
- the service was delivered by a professional representative or association of professional representatives established in the EU and entered in the EPO official list.
The request for reimbursement must be done online within the established time limits.
The application for Voucher 1 (IP Scan), Voucher 2 (Trade Marks and Designs) and Voucher 4 (Plant Varieties) is still possible.