Subsidies for patent attorney services
Save up to 75% on patent searches, application processing, and administrative fees
Aided activities include:
- drafting of a patent, trademark, utility or industrial design application
- searches on patentability, freedom-to-operate etc.
- providing professional advice, consultations and other assistance
- representation before authorities in the Czech Republic and abroad, responses to objections and translations
- administrative fees paid to the respective authorities, if invoiced by the representative
The subsidy may be applied to services charged by patent attorneys that occurred after January 1, 2021. The services must be associated with a specific application or applications and are eligible for a subsidy until the publication of the patent application or registration of other rights.
Additional Information
Minimum grant amount
The provided support ranges from CZK 50,000 to CZK 500,000 per grant project.
Each applicant can submit multiple applications, but individual projects should not be related to each other.
The grant is reimbursed only retrospectively after the successful completion of the project. In the case of a patent, this is the publication of the patent application, and for other rights, it is their registration. If your application includes multiple applications, the project is considered completed after the publication/registration of the last one.
75% support range
The maximum support must not exceed CZK 500,000 per 1 grant application.
Innovation Vouchers – Industrial Property Rights Protection – Call I falls under the de minimis regime. It is therefore also limited to a threshold of EUR 200,000 that a given enterprise can receive over the last 3 accounting periods.
Verify your de minimis status
Grant provider
The grant is provided by the Ministry of Industry and Trade under the subsidy: Innovation Vouchers – Industrial Property Rights Protection – Call I.
This call is part of the Operational Programme for Enterprise and Innovations for Competitiveness (OP TAK) 2021-2027.
Oficial information about the subsidy
End of application collection
You can submit your applications until the publication date of your patent application or the registration of other rights, but no later than December 31, 2023.
The launch of the second call of this grant is planned for 2024, and its specifics are not yet known.
Who can apply for a subsidy?
Support within this call can be requested by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), research organizations, and individuals conducting business in the Czech Republic.
An SME has fewer than 250 employees, turnover of ≤ 50 million EUR or an annual balance sheet total of ≤ 43 million EUR.
The support does not apply to projects intended for realization Prague region.
When to apply for a grant?
You can submit your application only after you have already filed an application for a patent or other right. If you do not have one yet but are planning to file, we will refer you to our colleagues and together we will determine the ideal procedure.
However, you have to submit the subsidy application before your patent application is published (usually within 18 months from filing) and by December 31, 2023.
Practical example
In June 2022, you submitted a Czech patent application, followed by an international PCT application in June 2023. You would like to apply for a grant for these applications.
At that moment, the grant may apply to (e.g.):
- CZK 50,000 – drafting of the Czech national application
- CZK 15,000 – two responses to the official communication from the Czech IPO
- CZK 100,000 – drafting of the PCT application
You can also include expenses that have not occurred yet but are likely to be incurred before the publication of the applications. Publication typically occurs within 18 months from the filing of the first application, which, in our case, would be in December 2023.
Until December 2023, potential expenses could include:
- EUR 2,000 – request for an international search
- CZK 10,000-30,000 – responses to office actions
- CZK 20-30 000 Kč – translation of the PCT application
- other expenses for expanding the protection abroad
All of these expenses can be included in the grant and their reimbursement can amount to 75 %.
However, it is necessary to estimate the amount of the costs in advance and set the financial limit for the project, which must not exceed 500,000 CZK and, at the same time, stay within your de minimis status. This amount may not be fully spent, but it must not be overdrawn. You will only get reimbursement for the expenses which have actually been charged.
Grant conditions:
- physical realization of the project has to be in the Czech Republic (however, outside Prague region)
- the grant falls under the de minimis regime (max. support per applicant for the last 3 accounting period must not exceed 200,000 EUR)
- the applicant must have their financial statements for the last 2 accounting periods published
- the applicant has the beneficial owner listed in the Register of Beneficial Owners
- the activity listed in the register (according to CZ-NACE) corresponds with the project
We focus on grant requirements, grant proceedings and recommendations on when to apply.
Usually, the grant application has to be coordinated with the strategy of applying for a patent or a trademark. Sometimes we have to act promptly due to the filing of applications, and sometimes we have more time.
To apply, as well as during the proceedings, it is necessary to submit documents for verification of meeting the grant conditions. These might include, e.g. statement on the size of the enterprise, de minimis statement or electronic conversion of the power of attorney.
During this phase, we need your full cooperation, as it is necessary to submit details on your accounting that may not be publicly accessible.
The grant applicant is evaluated within the definition of one enterprise, i.e. fulfillment of the conditions is assessed together for the applicant + for enterprises in which they have min. 25% share. In some cases, the definition also includes businesses of direct relatives, especially spouses, siblings, parents and children.
We will complete the supplied documents and applications for industrial rights, prepare and file a grant application.
Over the next 2 months, the formal and substantive conditions of the grant are checked, as well as the information about the applicant. We will keep you informed about the status of your application.
Before issuing a grant decision, it is necessary to supplement financial statements for the 2 previous closed accounting periods; this concerns the applicant as well as the companies, in which they own at least a 25% share. In some cases, it is also necessary to supply the same information for companies of direct relatives (parents, spouses, siblings, children).
With the issuance of the decision on the provision of a grant, the period of project sustainability begins, which is usually 3 years for patent projects. The obligation to fulfill project publicity also begins with the issuance.
If you have an issued decision and your project has already been terminated (e.g. by publishing all patent applications included in the grant), we can start processing the request for reimbursement.
During the ongoing proceedings, it is necessary to communicate with the project manager and supply monitoring reports.
The sustainability period of projects with patent applications is usually 3 years. 1 monitoring report is then supplied for each year.
We take care of grant projects from A to Z – we will arrange all administrative work for the applications and all sustainability reports. However, we do not see into your accounting or the development of your company, so in some cases we will need your cooperation or confirmation of further steps.
We can file a request for reimbursement only after the completion of a project (publication of patent applications, registration of other rights).
Only in this request do we present the specific expenses that we want to recover as part of the grant. These are specific invoices, payment confirmations, property cards, etc. The maximum amount of these expenses depends on the financial ceiling set in the grant application and the limit of the call – 500,000 CZK.
The grant funds will be paid out approx. 2-3 months after the grant application has been filed.
Within the 3-year sustainability period, it is required to submit reports on realization – monitoring reports, which describe the development of patent and other applications included in the grant.
Part of these reports are, e.g. financial statements, as well as the evidence of publicity (social media screenshots, web links, photographs).
What will we need from you for filing an application:
- Confirmation of the application filing from the relevant patent office (this is not required if you have already been our client)
- Contract with a patent attorney
- Confirmation on keeping a bank account
- Power of Attorney – electronically signed, or electronically converted version of the verified power (provided, e.g. at the CzechPOINT)
During the next stage, we need to supply:
- Statement on the size of the enterprise
- Financial statements for the last 2 closed accounting periods
- De minimis statement
We take care for most of the administrative work associated with the grant application. However, especially at the beginning, we need your full cooperation and confirmation of further steps prepared by us. This is beucase we do not have access to all the accounting information that is needed for the application, as it may not be public.
We will help you increase your chances of obtaining a grant
Have more questions? Not sure about something? Would you like to know if the grant also applies to you or do you want to start right away?
Contact person
Viola Honzová
Grant Specialist