The Directorate General for the Protection of Industrial Property – Italian Patent and Trademark Office of the Ministry of Economic Development issued the call for the grant of the “Marchi+2022” facilitating measure (the Call), with some subtle differences compared to the previous year. The aim is to support companies in registering their trademark abroad through incentives paid in the form of non-refundable contributions and on the basis of two different facilitating measures:
- Measure A: registration of EU trademark with EUIPO (Ufficio dell’Unione europea per la Proprietà Intellettuale);
- Measure B: registration of international trademark with WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization).
Beneficiaries
The incentives provided for by the Call apply to companies that, at the time of the submission of the application, meet the following requirements:
- Be a micro, small and medium size enterprise;
- Have the registered office and the headquarter in Italy;
- Be legally established and registered with the Business Register and have an “operative” status;
- Absence of grounds for prohibition, revocation or suspension pursuant to Art. 67 of the Anti-mafia legislation;
- No ongoing administrative proceedings related to acts of revocation for undue receipt of public resources;
- Ownership of the trademark for which registration is sought.
Furthermore, beneficiaries of the incentives are the micro, small and medium enterprises owner of the trademark that as from June 1st, 2019:
- filed and obtained registration with EUIPO;
- filed registration application with WIPO;
- submitted the application for extension of national or EU trademark already registered or for which the registration application has been already filed;
- submitted application of subsequent designation for trademark already registered with WIPO.
provided that, in each case, the applicant complied with the payment of filing fees and, in the case of Measure B, obtained publication of the application for registration in WIPO’s International Register of the trademark concerned.
Financial resources and method of application
The participation in the call is already open and it will remain admissible until the financial resources are available (the exhaustion will be promptly notified on www.marchipiù2022.it). The total amount of the financial resources is € 2 million (compared to € 3 million provided for by the Bando Marchi 2021). The application shall be completed exclusively online according to the procedures provided for on the above-mentioned website. The application, together with all the other attachments required by the Call, shall be digitally signed by the legal representative of the company or by the special proxy (with special power of attorney).
Eligible costs
Pursuant to Art. 5 of the Call, the costs incurred for the trademark file and/or the acquisition of specialist services (invoiced and paid from 1 June 2019 to the date of the submission of application) that fall in the scope of the Call, therefore eligible, are:
- Graphic trademark representation;
- Assistance in trademark filing;
- Availability searches;
- Legal assistance for trademark protection actions in response to post-filing oppositions
- Fees of filing at EUIPO (for Measure A) or fees of filing at UIBM or EUIPO and WIPO (for Measure B).
Contributions
There are two different amounts of contribution in relation to the facilitating measure concerned:
- For Measure A:
The incentives would cover the 80% of the above-mentioned eligible costs, in compliance with the maximum amounts intended for each type of cost and, in general, in compliance with the total amount intended for each trademark equal to € 6.000.
- For Measure B:
The Call provides for the coverage of 90% for the same costs, in respect of the maximum amounts intended for each type and of the total amount equal to € 9.000 (compared to € 8.000 provided for by the Bando Marchi 2021).
The decision of granting or refusal of the incentives will be notified by the Call managing body “Unioncamere” to the PEC address of the company or the special proxy within 150 days from the submission of the application. In case of granting decision, the incentives will be paid within 60 from the notification of the decision according to the procedures described in the Art. 9 of the Call.
The destination of financial resources in favor of trademark protection, as well as of the other intellectual property rights, reflect the utmost importance of trademark registration as an opportunity of development, supporting the company in the creation of an identity strong, competitive and protected against possible acts of counterfeiting.
Zunarelli Law Firm is available for any further information and for any possible support to companies in submitting their application under the Call. In both cases, we invite You to send Your requests to the following e-mail address shanghai@studiozunarelli.com
Zunarelli Law Firm
