Trademark registration grant: Italy's Marchi+ 2026 refunds up to 9,000 euros per trademark abroad

THURSDAY, 8 OCTOBER 2026

From 3 December, Italian SMEs can claim back up to 90% of the cost of protecting their trademark outside Italy. The budget is 2 million euros and in 2025 it ran out in a day.

Italy's trademark registration grant, Marchi+ 2026, opens on 3 December and refunds up to 90% of the cost of registering a trademark abroad, capped at 9,000 euros per trademark. The budget is 2 million euros, allocated first come, first served: in 2025 the window closed the day after it opened.

What the Marchi+ 2026 trademark registration grant covers

The scheme belongs to Italy's Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy and is run by Unioncamere, the national network of chambers of commerce. It is open to micro, small and medium-sized companies that want to protect their trademark outside Italy and has two strands: Measure A for European Union trademarks registered with the EUIPO, the EU office in Alicante, and Measure B for international registrations with WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva.

The grant covers external services linked to the trademark: designing the graphic representation, filing assistance, prior-art searches, legal assistance against oppositions, and filing or registration fees.

• Marchi+ 2026 budget: 2 million euros, out of 32 million allocated to Brevetti+, Disegni+ and Marchi+.
• Measure A, EU trademark with the EUIPO: 80% of eligible costs, up to 6,000 euros per trademark (85% for companies with gender equality certification).
• Measure B, international trademark with WIPO: 90% of costs, up to 9,000 euros per trademark (95% with the same certification).
• Date requirement: trademark filed on or after 1 June 2023.
• Applications: from 12:00 to 18:00 on 3 December 2026, then at the same hours on the following working days, until the funds run out.

The eligible costs, item by item

The call sets a ceiling for each service. Under Measure B, trademark design is covered up to 1,650 euros, filing assistance up to 350 euros, a prior-art search across all EU countries up to 1,800 euros, and each search in a single non-EU country up to 700 euros. Legal assistance against an opposition reaches 1,800 euros, and replying to objections from a national office 600 euros per objection, for up to three objections per trademark.

Under Measure A the ceilings are lower: 1,500 euros for design, 300 for filing, 550 or 1,500 euros for the prior-art search depending on its scope, 1,500 for assistance against oppositions. Fees paid to the offices count towards the per-trademark cap.

A requirement that matters more than the opening date

The grant refunds costs already incurred; it is not an advance. Under Measure A the trademark must already be registered with the EUIPO when the application is submitted; under Measure B the international application must already be published in the WIPO register, Madrid Monitor. A company that has not yet filed anything is unlikely to meet the requirements by 3 December.

The second constraint is speed. The 2025 edition, with the same 2 million euro budget, opened at 12:00 on 4 December 2025, and the Ministry ordered its closure from the following day because the funds were exhausted. Applications are examined in chronological order, with no ranking, and must be digitally signed by the legal representative.

What it means for importers selling under their own brand

The grant is directly relevant to companies that have goods made abroad and sold under their own name: private label products, gadgets and promotional items, accessories. Measure B also refunds prior-art searches in individual non-EU countries, including the country where the goods are made, and assistance with objections from national offices. The figures do not say how many companies will need this, but they suggest it is worth considering extending the trademark to production markets as well as sales markets.

In practice, it makes sense to gather now the invoices, receipts and registration certificates for trademarks filed since 1 June 2023, check that the legal representative has a digital signature, and plan to submit at 12:00 on 3 December. Companies that still have to file their trademark can set up the registration with the next edition in mind, keeping from the start the expense records the call requires.

The other two industrial property grants

The same decree funds Brevetti+, with 20 million euros and applications from 25 November through Invitalia, and Disegni+, with 10 million and applications from 17 December through Unioncamere. Disegni+ supports bringing registered designs and models into production, including prototypes and moulds: it is the call to watch for companies that have registered a product design and need to industrialise it.

With La Merce, companies that have own-brand goods made in Asia check with the supplier that logos, labels and packaging show exactly the registered trademark, the one for which the Marchi+ grant refunds up to 9,000 euros.

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