The Office of the Comptroller General of Patents Designs and Trademarks on 22nd April, 2016 has finally released the Scheme for Facilitating Start-Ups Intellectual Property Protection (SIPP).
The major objective of the scheme is to protect and promote Intellectual Property Rights awareness for startups and to encourage creativity and innovation amongst them.
Given the rigorous demand on the Indian Start-Up industry, the Comptroller General of Patents Designs and Trademarks (CGPDTM) has carried out appointment of experienced and registered Trade Mark / Patent Agents as Facilitators and has released a list of 215 facilitators for Trade Marks and 277 facilitators for Design and Patent departments, respectively. These facilitators can be approached by the Start-Ups to seek guidance and help in matters relating to protection and registration of Intellectual Property.
Going further, as an incentive, the Start-ups shall not have to pay any kind of fee for seeking services from the facilitators; instead the facilitators shall directly be paid by the Central Government through the office of the CGPDTM. However, the statutory application costs and other processing fees shall have to be borne by the start-up themselves.
Initially, the scheme has been launched on a pilot-basis for a period of one year from the date of launch of Start-Up India.
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