The Ministry of Economic Development has finally disclosed how to access the ‘Trademarks +‘, ‘Patents +’, ‘Designs +’ measures. (1) In addition to public research technology transfer incentives. New calls and old tricks. Details to follow.
‘Trademarks +’, ‘Patents +’, ‘Designs +’. The new calls
The financial resources allocated for the three measures total €38.3 million, broken down as follows:
– ‘Patents+’ (contributions to the purchase of specialized services, aimed at enhancing the value of patents), € 21.8 million,
– ‘Designs+’ (contributions to the implementation of projects aimed at enhancing designs registered with national or regional intellectual property offices), € 13 million,
– ‘Trademarks+’ (contributions to the purchase of specialized services aimed at registering EU trademarks with the European Union Intellectual Property Office, EUIPO, or international trademarks with the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO), € 3.5 million.
Applications for access to the incentives can be submitted from the following dates (and will still be considered until resources are exhausted):
– 30.1.20, 12 noon, for applications related to the ‘Patents+’ call,
– 27.2.20, 9 a.m., for applications to ‘Designs+’,
– 30.3.20, 9 a.m., for instances involving ‘Marks+’.
Application management procedures are entrusted to Invitalia (for the ‘Patents+’ call ) and Unioncamere (for the ‘Designs+’ and ‘Trademarks+’ calls ).
Technology transfer incentives for public research
Universities and public research institutions are in turn encouraged to promote technology transfer. The resources available for 2020:
– € 7 million, to fund projects to strengthen Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs),
– 5.3 million, to finance projects for patent enhancement (called ‘Proof of Concept‘ – PoC).
The short time windows within which to submit applications:
– 16.12.19 to 14.2.20 for UTT projects, to be sent to the General Directorate of UIBM (Italian Patent and Trademark Office), at MISE,
– 13.1.20 and to 27.2.20 for PoC projects, to Invitalia’s address.
New calls and old tricks
The new calls are presented by Mi.S.E. (Ministry of Economic Development) with the aim of ”Provide a framework of financial and regulatory instruments that can 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 adopted on new measures:
– the delay of the implementing decree, which we had already denounced, means that the measures planned in the ‘growth decree’ for 2019 have been postponed to 2020, (2)
– funding coverage is limited to a share of only trademark and patent registration costs. Which remain particularly burdensome for SMEs, especially in the preliminary stage,
– the brevity of the deadlines for technology transfer funding actually limits its access to the few entities already prepared to submit relevant applications. (3)
Dario Dongo and Selena Travaglio
Notes
(1) See Mi.S.E. decree 18.10.19, Scheduling of calls for proposals for 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/mercati/decreto-crescita-in-vigore-dal-30-giugno-2019-le-novità
(3) On the relationship between public research and benefits to corporations, we refer to Mariana Mazzucato’s lucid notes. Brief summary in the article by João Medeiros, This economist has a plan to fix capitalism. It’s time we all listened, in Wired, 8.10.19.
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Lawyer, specializing in intellectual property rights. LL.M. in agri-food law.
