Wouldn’t it be nice to have some free money to spend on evaluation of your company’s intellectual property?

Well, I’m pleased to tell you that with the generous support of the UK Intellectual Property Office, this is exactly what is on offer.

The scheme in question is called the IP Audits Plus service. It gives those company’s that apply, and are selected, access to a fund of £3,000 (inc. VAT) to spend on evaluation of the company’s IP position (only £500 of which is funded by the company). The money can be spent with a qualified patent or trade mark attorney of the company’s choosing to conduct an Audit of the firm’s IP assets and provide a report.

While the funds cannot be used to pay for filing, examination or maintenance costs of specific IP rights, the IP Audit report can be tailored to the specific needs of the company, for example providing an overview of the companies IP assets – effectively a preliminary SWOT analysis; or focussing more on specific questions relating to the portfolio, for example, Freedom-to-Operate issues, or providing a patent landscaping exercise. The reports always contain recommendations for next steps, and an estimate of associated costs. The reports remain confidential.

The Audits are administered through the European Enterprise Network (EEN) in England via the “Innovate2Succeed (i2s)” program. Dedicated advisors will then guide you through the process and, if appropriate, make the application for the Audit on your behalf.

Please get in touch for more information.

Jonathan Goodacre  9 March 2020