Many MSME entrepreneurs in the city do not apply for IPR protection due to high attorney fees etc. The new revision of the scheme will reimburse the amount taken to process the IP.
Under the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) scheme of the Ministry of Medium and Small Enterprises (MSME), companies can receive a reimbursement of up to Rs. 1 lakh for acquiring a patent. However, many MSMEs cannot afford this amount and are not always aware of or eligible for the schemes provided by the MSMEs.
Nirdesh from Homatico, a design studio in HSR Layout said, “I did not know that we can process an IPR through the MSME dept. For my company’s trademark, I approached an attorney who was charging almost Rs 25,000 – Rs. 30,000 per trademark. It was too expensive, so I kept the process on hold.” He added, “I was not aware of the reimbursement scheme of the MSME department.”
He further added, “During COVID-19, I tried to apply for an MSME loan, but the process was long and they told me that I am not eligible for the loan, since I don’t have a previous loan for my company.”
Gopinath Rao, Deputy Director, MSME, Development Facilitation Office (DFO), Bengaluru said, “Many schemes are available for MSME but they are mostly unknown to entrepreneurs.”
He said that now the department of MSMEs is now looking to promote IPR for MSMEs by reimbursing the entire cost of trademarks, patents, and Geographical Indicators (GI).
Business can protect their products and services from being copied and duplicated by applying for trademarks and patents, said Prof. Dr. T. Ramakrishna, Professor of IPR, National Law School of India University at an event organized by the MSME Ministry for the launch of the ‘National IP Yatra’ in the city.
The professor also said that the patent processing time used to take about 84 months and now takes about 300 days, because of the judicial system and that the ministry of MSME has no control over the processing time of IPs.
Shashi Kumar, Deputy Director, MSME, Development Facilitation Office (DFO), Bengaluru said, “We are now conducting our flagship program National IP Yatra, to create more awareness about the importance of IPR for MSMEs and how the department can help in making this process easy.”
He further said, “In Bengaluru, we have received over 50 eligible applicants out of 50 percent of the funds have been reimbursed, while we are waiting for more funds to reimburse for the rest.”
To apply for an IPR, one should hire an attorney and on their recommendation can apply for an IPR, which will take almost 12-18 months for the first inspection.
Prof Dr T Ramakrishna speaking about legal ways to monitize IPR
