The Ministry of Economic Development has finally announced the access methods to the measures ‘Trademarks +’, ‘Patents +’, ‘Designs +’. (1) In addition to incentives for technology transfer of public research. New calls and old tricks. Details follow.
‘Trademarks +’, ‘Patents +’, ‘Designs +’. The new calls
The financial resources allocated for the three measures amount to a total of € 38.3 million, distributed as follows:
– ‘Patents+’ (grants for the purchase of specialized services aimed at enhancing patents), € 21.8 million,
– ‘Designs+’ (grants for the implementation of projects aimed at enhancing designs or models registered with national or regional intellectual property offices), € 13 million,
– ‘Trademarks+’ (grants for the purchase of specialized services aimed at registering EU trademarks at the European Union Intellectual Property Office, EUIPO, or international trademarks at the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO), € 3.5 million.
Applications to access the incentives can be submitted from the following dates (and will be considered until resources are exhausted):
– 30.1.20, 12 PM, for applications related to the call 'Patents+',
– 27.2.20, 9 AM, for grant requests for 'Drawings+',
– 30.3.20, 9 AM, for applications concerning 'Brands+'.
Procedures for managing the applications are entrusted to Invitalia (for the call ‘Patents+’) and Unioncamere (for the calls ‘Designs+’ e ‘Trademarks+’).
Incentives for the technology transfer of public research
Universities and public research bodies are in turn encouraged to promote technology transfer. Resources available for 2020:
– € 7 million, to finance projects aimed at strengthening the Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs),
– € 5.3 million, to finance projects for the enhancement of patents (called ‘Proof of Concept’ – PoC).
The short windows within which to submit applications:
– from 16.12.19 to 14.2.20 for TTO projects, to be sent to the Directorate General of the UIBM (Italian Patent and Trademark Office), at the MISE,
– from 13.1.20 to 27.2.20 for PoC projects, to the address of Invitalia.
New calls and old tricks
The new calls are presented by the Mi.S.E. (Ministry of Economic Development) with the aim of ‘providing a framework of financial and regulatory tools able to give, in the coming months, stability and certainty both to companies investing in their know-how and to universities and research institutions engaged in research and development projects to be transferred to the industrial field’.
The old tricks are unfortunately the same, albeit applied to new measures:
– the delay of the implementing decree, which we had already denounced, causes the postponement to 2020 of the measures planned in the 'growth decree' for 2019, (2)
– the coverage of funding is limited to a portion of only the costs of registering trademarks and patents. These remain particularly burdensome for SMEs, especially in the application phase,
– the shortness of the deadlines for technology transfer funding effectively limits access to the few bodies already prepared to submit the relevant applications. (3)
Dario Dongo and Selena Travaglio
Notes
(1) See Mi.S.E. decree 18.10.19, Programming of calls related to the patent+, trademark+ and design+ measures. In Official Gazette 31.10.19,
(2) See previous articles https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/mercati/decreto-crescita-incentivi-a-pmi-e-startup-innovative-ancora-in-attesa-dei-fondi, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/markets/growth-decree-effective-from-june-30-2019-news
(3) On the relationship between public research and benefits to Corporation the clear notes of Mariana Mazzucato are recalled. Brief summary in the article by João Medeiros, This economist has a plan to fix capitalism. It’s time we all listened, on Wired, 8.10.19.
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT – Food Times) and Égalité.
Lawyer, specialized in intellectual property rights. LL.M. in agri-food law.
