This year’s format of the SME Fund 2024 Ideas Powered For Business program offers financing for an even wider range of services, in which Bulgarian enterprises, as well as all those established in member states of the European Union (EU) and Ukraine, meeting the requirements for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and seeking patent protection for their inventions, in addition to official fees for the patent granting procedure, they will also be able to receive financial assistance for legal expenses for drafting a patent description and filing a European patent application (up to a maximum of 50% or EUR 2,000 if the service has been provided by a professional representative on the EPO’s official list, namely European Patent Attorney).

The patent funding covers:

• Reimbursement of 75% of the costs for “prior art searches” fees. This type of examination preceding the patent application is carried out worldwide and must be carried out by a national IP office of an EU member state or by the Visegrad Patent Institute.
• Reimbursement of 75% of the costs for official fees for prosecution (patent filing, search and examination), patent grant fees and publication fees for national protection in an EU Member State, for example an Bulgarian patent application .
• Reimbursement of 75% of the costs for official fees for search and application for a European patent for an invention filed with the European Patent Office (EPO). All other European patent fees are excluded.
• Reimbursement of 50% of the costs for legal services for drafting a patent specification and filing an application for a European patent for an invention, up to a maximum amount of EUR 2000, depending on the applicable costs at national level for these services.

The reimbursement is subject to the following conditions:

• • the service is related to the preparation and filing of an application for a European patent;
  • the service is provided by a professional representative entered in the official list of the European Patent Office, namely European Patent Attorney.
  • Reimbursement request must be submitted online within the established deadlines.

No fees other than those quoted above are included with respect to European patents, nor are fees for filing international patent applications (PCT applications) or utility model registration applications.

The maximum amount of expenses that can be reimbursed for an SME in the field of patents for inventions is EUR 3500.

The application process is extremely simplified and after the review of the submitted documents by the EUIPO, within about 14-20 calendar days, the decision to award grants in the form of a voucher is received. Vouchers can only be used for the IP activities they cover and are non-transferable. The validity of the issued vouchers has an initial period of 2 months, which can be extended by another 2 months. When activating the voucher, i.e. when it is used to reimburse already incurred expenses for government fees, its term is further extended by 6 months from the date of activation, during which period it can be used for additional IP services, but only for the IP activities for which it is allocated, and until reaching the limit of the stipulated amount of 3,500 euros.

The estimated budget for 2024 will be €1.15 million for patent and plant variety vouchers, and the grant application period is from 22/01/2024 to 06/12/2024.

If you need additional information and assistance when applying for the SME funding program 2024 for patents for inventions, please do not hesitate to contact us – patent and trademark office K TAHTADJIEV, and it will be our privilege to assist you in this regard.