Govt increases remunerations of IP facilitators for startups

The government has significantly raised remunerations for intellectual property (IP) facilitators, who help startups file patents, trademarks and design applications, an official said on Thursday.

The Start-Ups Intellectual Property Protection (SIPP) scheme of the commerce and industry ministry facilitates startups in filing and processing their patent, design or trademark applications through the assistance of IP facilitators, whose fee was borne by the Office of the Controller General of Patents Designs and Trademarks (CGPDTM).

"The financial assistance of IP facilitators or IP Mitra remunerations have increased 4x," CGPDTM Unnat Pandit told reporters here.
IP Mitra can help the intended entrepreneurs in a variety of ways. They can provide assistance in filing, support and facilitate in the processing of IP applications along with expert advice on various legal aspects of Intellectual Property.

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They can also help to broaden the startup's IP portfolio and enable stakeholders to new ventures in the IP world through their experiences and skills. At present, there are 492 facilitators.

The move would help the facilitators to provide quality services to startups in order to increase the number of IP (intellectual property) applications filed by startups.

For patents, fees at the time of filing of application have been increased to Rs 15,000 from Rs 10,000 earlier. At the time of the final disposal of applications, fees have been increased to Rs 25,000 and if there is opposition, then they will get Rs 35,000.

To protect and promote the IP rights (IPR) of startups and to encourage innovation and creativity among them, the government launched the SIPP scheme in 2016.

Startups are provided an 80 per cent fee rebate in filing patent applications and a 50 per cent fee rebate in filing trademark applications. In addition, there are also provisions for fast-track examination of patent applications.

Patent applications filed by startups have increased from 179 in 2016-17 to 1,500 in 2021-22. Similarly, trade mark applications rose to 8,649 in 2021-22 from only four in 2016-17.

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