SME voucher offer 2022 has ended
The SME voucher enables entrepreneurs to recuperate part of their application fee for intellectual property rights. This popular offer is aimed at supporting businesses wishing to protect their IP. The offer is an initiative implemented by the EUIPO. The maximum budget available to the EUIPO for reimbursement of trademark and design registrations and the IP-Scan has now been exhausted. This part of the offer is therefore closed from 29 November. Read more
Fancy having part of your application fees reimbursed? Read how here!
Do you plan to register your trademark or your design? In 2022 you can take advantage of the IP voucher offer. It allows you to recuperate part of your application fee. For more information about the offer and the conditions below.
The IP voucher is an initiative organised by the European Commission, the EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) and the competent national authorities. The Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP) is the competent authority for the registration of trademarks and designs in the Benelux.
The aim of the campaign is to support businesses that want to protect their IP rights.
What is the offer?
The IP voucher
Is your company an SME? If so, in 2022 you can recuperate up to 75% of your trademark or design application fee. You can do this with the intellectual property rights voucher (IP voucher). The IP voucher is available for all companies established in the EU that meet the definition of an SME as determined by the European Commission.
The SME voucher offer 2022 has ended. Read more
What costs can you recuperate?
Both basic costs and additional costs (costs for extra classes, for example) qualify for this partial reimbursement:
- For an application for a Benelux trademark, that is a minimum of 183 euro (75% of the basic cost of 244 euro).
- For an application for a Benelux design, that is a minimum of 112.50 euro (75% % of the basic cost of 150 euro).
- You can also use the IP voucher to recuperate part of the fee for a European trademark or design application.
Through the SME Fund you can recuperate up to 75% of the costs of a trademark or design application with BOIP, but that’s not all. You can also recuperate:
- up to 75% of the costs of a trademark or design application in another country that is part of the European Union
- up to 75% of the costs of a European trademark or design application
- up to 50% of the costs of a national patent registration
- up to 50% of the costs of a trademark or design registration outside the EU
- up to 90% of the costs for an IP Scan (only for entrepreneurs in Belgium).
For more information about the IP voucher for the IP Scan and patents in Belgium, please contact the FSP Economy.
For more information about the IP voucher and patents in Luxembourg, please contact l'Institut de la propriété intellectuelle (IPIL) or l'Office de la propriété intellectuelle.
For more information about the IP voucher and patents in the Netherlands, please contact the Netherlands Patent Office.
About the IP Scan
The IP voucher also makes it possible to recuperate part of the costs of pre-diagnostic IP services (“IP Scan”). In the Benelux, this service is at present only available for SMEs in Belgium. The IP Scan is a service whereby an expert assigned by the Belgian Federal Economic Service (FSP Economy) analyses what campaigns in the field of intellectual property may be advisable for your company. For an IP scan application, you can recuperate up to 90% of the costs. That can amount to up to 1,350 euro (90% of 1,500 euro). For more information, please contact the FSP Economy.
Who is eligible?
Your company meets the definition of an SME as determined by the European Commission. This depends, inter alia, on the number of employees and the annual turnover or the annual balance sheet total. As a general rule:
- an SME has less than 250 employees
- an SME has an annual turnover of less than 50 million euro
- an SME has a balance sheet total that does not exceed 43 million euro.
Using the European Commission online SME check, you can check whether your company meets the definition.
What conditions apply?
IP voucher for trademarks and designs
The following conditions apply for the voucher to be granted:
- Your SME must meet the definition of an SME as determined by the European Commission.
- You, the company or an IP professional can apply for the IP voucher with EUIPO. An IP professional is a legal expert in the field of intellectual property who can assist with your trademark or design registration.
- Up to 75% of the costs incurred will be reimbursed up to 1,500 euro. You can thus apply for partial reimbursement for more than one trademark or design application at the same time. The basic registration costs are not the only costs that qualify for this: for example, the costs for extra classes also qualify.
For an application for a Benelux trademark, that is 183 euro (75% of 244 euro).
For an application for a Benelux design, that is 112.50 euro (75% of 150 euro). - In 2022 you can apply for just 1 IP voucher. This application can include more than one Benelux or European trademark or design. Your voucher is valid for four months, so if you register several trademarks and designs within that period, you can claim them on the same voucher. You can extend the period by up to 2 months.
IP voucher for the IP Scan
Only available for companies in Belgium.
The following conditions apply for the voucher to be granted:
- Your SME must meet the definition of an SME as determined by the European Commission.
- You or the company must apply to EUIPO for the IP voucher.
- Up to 90% of the costs incurred for an IP scan will be reimbursed up to 1,500 euro. For an IP scan application, that is 1,350 euro (90% of 1,500 euro).
- In 2022 you can apply for just 1 IP voucher. That application can include more than one Benelux or European trademark and/or design and an IP scan. The total amount to be recuperated is a maximum of 1,500 euro.
Note: First make sure you have received official confirmation from EUIPO that your IP voucher has been granted. Then apply for your trademark or design registration or your IP scan. If you apply for your trademark or design registration or your IP scan before you apply for the IP voucher, the IP voucher will not be granted to you.
You can apply to register a trademark or a design with BOIP. You can request an IP scan through the Belgian Federal Economic Service (only for companies in Belgium).
Comprehensive EUIPO document on the call for proposals (PDF, 330 Kb)
How does it work?
Follow these steps:
Step 1: Open an SME Fund account
Step 2: Apply for the IP voucher
Wait for confirmation from EUIPO that your IP voucher has been granted.
Step 3: Apply for your trademark or design registration and/or your IP scan
Step 4: Claim your IP voucher
Step 2: Apply for your IP voucher
The SME voucher offer 2022 is closed from 29 November. Read more
Vouchers will be granted on a ‘first come, first served' basis. This means we cannot guarantee that the IP voucher will still be available when you apply for it.
- Apply for your IP voucher with EUIPO (you will find the link directly under Step 6). Do this before you apply for your design or trademark registration with BOIP or with EUIPO and/or before you apply for an IP scan with the Belgian Federal Economic Service (the IP scan is only available for companies in Belgium).
- You will need the following:
- your bank details
- a bank statement showing the name of the company as the account holder with the IBAN and BIC/SWIFT code
- a VAT certificate. - After you submit your application, you will receive an e-mail with confirmation of receipt and the reference number of your application for your IP voucher. It can take up to 60 minutes before you receive the confirmation. The number is used in all communication regarding your application, so please keep it safe!
- In principle, EUIPO will grant the application within two weeks by way of a signed decision. Vouchers are granted on a 'first come, first served' basis. This means we cannot guarantee that the IP voucher will still be available in the period when you apply for it.
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Submit your trademark or design application to BOIP or your application for the IP scan to the Belgian Federal Economic Service within 4 months of receiving the decision granting the voucher from EUIPO. If you still have no approval from EUIPO when you apply for your trademark or design registration or your IP scan, then you do not meet the conditions for payment of the refund.
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Once your IP voucher has been granted, you must claim the refund yourself by way of a request for reimbursement.
Step 3: Apply for your trademark or design registration and/or your IP scan
Note: First make sure you have received official confirmation from EUIPO that your IP voucher has been granted. Then apply for your trademark or design registration or your IP scan. If you apply for your trademark or design registration or your IP scan before you apply for the IP voucher, the IP voucher will not be granted to you.
You can apply to register a trademark or a design with BOIP. You can request an IP scan through the Belgian Federal Economic Service (only for companies in Belgium).
Step 4: Claim the refund using your IP voucher
This is how it works:
- Log in to your SME Fund account
- Fill in the reimbursement form and upload the proof of payment required.
Request payment from the IP voucher within 4 months of your application for trademark or design registration or IP scan. Payment is independent of whether or not your trademark registration is successful: if your trademark registration is refused, you can still request the refund.
About us
The IP voucher is issued from the Ideas Powered for Business SME Fund. This is an initiative of the European Commission, EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) and the competent national authorities to support European companies that want to protect their IP rights in the Benelux, in individual countries within the EU or for the whole of the EU at once. BOIP is the competent authority for registration of trademarks and designs in the Benelux.
About BOIP
When you register a trademark or a design, you select the countries in which you want to protect it. Are you only active in the Benelux or part of it? The most logical choice is then to register your trademark or design in the Benelux. You can do that with us, the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP), the official authority for trademark and design registration in the Benelux.
About EUIPO
As an entrepreneur are you also active outside the Benelux? Then there are various possibilities to register your trademark or design outside the Benelux. You can do this for the whole of the European Union at once, or for one or more countries together. If you want to register your trademark or design for the whole of the European Union at once, you can do that through EUIPO. That is the official authority for registration of a European trademark or design.
If you only want to register your trademark or design in some European countries and perhaps also countries outside, you can apply for international registration through WIPO.
If you have questions about where you want to register your trademark or design, please contact our Information Centre or one of our partners below.
For this campaign we are working in cooperation with:
Institut de la Propriété Intellectuelle Luxembourg
Office de la propriété intellectuelle
