Scheme for Facilitating Startups Intellectual Property Protection

SIPP is the most under-used benefit in the entire startup toolkit. A panel of IP facilitators empanelled by the Controller General drafts, files and prosecutes your patent, design or trademark application — and CGPDTM pays their professional fee, not you. You bear only the statutory fee, which is itself rebated by 80% for patents and 50% for trademarks and designs.

1. 1

   Get DPIIT recognition first

   Without it there is no SIPP, no facilitator and no fee rebate. It is free and usually issued within 2–10 working days.

2. 2

   Do the prior-art or trademark search before filing

   A rebate on a doomed application is worthless. A comprehensive identical-plus-phonetic search on the trademark side, or a prior-art search on the patent side, tells you whether the application is worth making at all.

3. 3

   Choose a facilitator from the CGPDTM panel

   IP India publishes the empanelled facilitator list by region and by IP type. You may select from it; the facilitator's fee is settled by the government directly.

4. 4

   File the application with the fee rebate applied

   Patent, design or trademark application is filed with the startup fee slab. On the trademark side that is ₹4,500 per class instead of ₹9,000; on the patent side the statutory fee drops by 80%.

5. 5

   Respond to the examination report inside the window

   A trademark examination report must be answered within 30 days; a patent First Examination Report has its own timeline. Missing the reply window abandons the application — this is where most self-filed startups lose their IP.