Recently, the EUIPO European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights (hereinafter referred to as the Observation Office) released the third edition of the EU Intellectual Property SME Scoreboard. The innovation and creativity of small and medium-sized enterprises in 2022 are presented through data. Data shows that only 10% of EU SMEs have registered intellectual property rights, such as trademarks, designs and patents.
However, the data also shows that more than 93% of small and medium-sized enterprises with registered intellectual property rights believe that intellectual property rights have brought positive impacts on their business, including: they believe that corporate reputation and corporate image have been improved (60%), and provide better services. Intellectual property protection (58%) and better career prospects and prospects (48%).
Registering intellectual property is important
The evaluation indicator data once again confirms the positive impact of intellectual property registration. Data shows that one-third (36%) of small and medium-sized enterprises that own intellectual property rights say they have received financial benefits from registering intellectual property rights.
When it comes to the reasons for not registering intellectual property rights, small and medium-sized enterprises said that the main reason is that they have not seen the additional benefits that registered intellectual property rights can bring (35%). Other reasons include: believing that their technological assets are not innovative enough to register (35%). 20%), lack of registration knowledge (19%) or failure to meet registration requirements (19%).
Intellectual Property Infringement
The evaluation indicators focus on intellectual property infringement issues and how small and medium-sized enterprises deal with infringement issues. Data shows that 15% of small and medium-sized enterprises that own intellectual property rights have encountered infringement problems, resulting in loss of turnover and damage to reputation. Nine out of 10 small and medium-sized enterprises have taken relevant measures to defend their intellectual property rights.
Provide assistance to small and medium-sized enterprises
Small and medium-sized enterprises account for 99% of all enterprises in the EU, employ about 100 million people, and are responsible for more than half of the EU's gross domestic product (GDP). Despite the severe impact of COVID-19, small and medium-sized enterprises are crucial to driving innovation at all levels of the economy.
EUIPO, the European Commission, and various EU national and regional intellectual property offices have launched a series of new measures to support the development of EU SMEs in the field of intellectual property, such as the SME Marketing Fund. Since the outbreak of the epidemic, It is still in operation today. These measures provide financial support to small and medium-sized enterprises in trademark, design and patent applications, as well as personalized intellectual property assistance. Since January 2021, more than 30,000 EU companies have applied for relevant financial assistance.
