Applying for Patent.Scheck
With the Patent.Scheck, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have the opportunity to receive financial support in obtaining a patent.
The application for the Patent.Scheck takes place in the eCall of the Österreichischen Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft (FFG) and can be accessed with this link. This requires a registration and a brief technical presentation of the subject of the invention to be patented. In addition, an opinion on the economic viability of the invention is to be made.
Within a few weeks, the application will be reviewed by the FFG and, in the case of a positive evaluation, a grant contract will be issued. As a result, the first payment rate for Compulsory Phase 1 will be paid.
Phase 1 includes an interactive search with an examiner of the Austrian Patent Office on site and a discussion with the respective examiner, whether your invention fulfills the protection requirements for patenting. In the case of a negative response, you send the received final report to the FFG, whereupon the project is terminated and further payments are stopped.
If this search is positive, Phase 2 can be initiated. This includes the preparation of documents for a patent application by a patent attorney and the filing of the application documents as a national or PCT patent application. The application documents must now be sent to the FFG together with the final report, the patent attorney's invoice and the bank transfer confirmation, after which the second and final payment rate will be transferred.
The FFG takes over 80%, but a maximum of € 10,000 of the costs incurred.