Innovation without financial barriers – discounts for invention applications in Poland

There is a story of a man who used to work on his inventions while incarcerated and apply to The Polish Patent Office, asking for a 100% discount on the one-off filing fee each time he filed an application for a patent. He justified his request on the grounds that he was in prison, had no regular income and was therefore unable to pay the required fee.

Unfortunately, the Patent Office was forced to refuse each time, citing regulations which did not provide for a total exemption from the one-off application fee and stating that the discount could not be less than 20% of the due amount.

In Poland, the process of obtaining patent protection for inventions involves costs such as application fees, patent search fees, maintenance of protection and additional fees. The first costs are incurred at the filing stage and constitute, so to speak, a stepping stone to further proceedings. Many inventors, especially those in the SME sector, as well as individual innovators, may be discouraged by the costs associated with the legal protection of their solutions.

In order to address this, Polish law provides for various discounts to reduce financial barriers and encourage the registration of inventions.

The key to achieving this goal is Article 226 of the Industrial Property Law. It is well worth knowing it in detail and taking advantage of the opportunities it offers in practical life. This article allows individuals as well as small and medium-sized enterprises to get fee reductions for obtaining and maintaining patent protection, including application, search and maintenance fees. If the applicant demonstrates that they are unable to pay the full amount of the invention application fee, the Patent Office will, upon request, grant them a partial exemption. It should be noted, however, that the remaining part of the fee cannot be less than 20% of the payable amount. The Patent Office may also, upon request, waive part or all of the fee for the protection of an invention that is paid on a recurring basis (this does not apply to fees for periods exceeding ten years from the filing date).

Discounts on the filing of invention applications are an important instrument for supporting the development of innovation in Poland. Thanks to them, individuals and small companies have a greater chance of successfully filing and protecting their inventions, which promotes the economic and technological development of our country.

Different types of official fees

The first cost to be paid when filing an application for an invention with the Polish Patent Office is PLN 550 for an application filed on paper or PLN 500 for an application filed electronically. The amount of the fee may increase depending on the number of pages of the application (by PLN 25 for each page if there are more than 20 pages of the description, claims and drawings) or if the application covers more than two inventions (in such a case, the fee is increased by 50%).

Failure to pay the one-off application fee may result in the discontinuation of the proceedings without the possibility of reinstating the deadline or reconsidering the case.

What formalities are required to obtain the discount?

In order to benefit from a partial fee waiver, a request should be filed together with the application for a patent for the invention, containing arguments in favour of a positive decision by the Patent Office. In order to speed up the procedure and have the application granted by the Patent Office, it is also advisable to include a statement on the financial status or the family and economic situation of the persons living in the same household as the applicant. It is of course possible to limit this first step to just filing the application, but we know from experience that the Patent Office will ask the applicant to provide a declaration of assets and liabilities under penalty of not dealing with the case.

A tailor-made strategy

Naturally, there are less original stories than the one set in prison, where the desire to protect one’s invention is so strong that certain limitations and obstacles are minimized. Every inventor, entrepreneur or innovator faces a number of challenges, some of the most serious of which may be financial. Despite these difficulties, the prospect of growth can be a powerful motivator to overcome any obstacles and strive for success.

One way of removing such barriers may be to use the right described in Article 226 of the IPL or to take advantage of European funds which are currently largely aimed at supporting innovative entrepreneurs. Available programs are not limited to financing research or innovation development, but also allow to cover patent protection costs both in Poland and abroad.