New Delhi, Apr 25 (IANS): The Indian government has extended the Start-Ups Intellectual Property Protection (SIPP) scheme for three years till March 2020, in a bid to continue the protection of entrepreneurs' patents, trademark and designs.

The scheme, in force till March 31, 2017, is being "extended further for a period of three years", the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has announced through a circular.

"The scheme of SIPP aims to promote awareness and adoption of intellectual property rights (IPR) among start-ups. The scheme is inclined to nurture and mentor innovative and emerging technologies among start-ups and assist them in protecting and commercialise it by providing them access to high-quality IP services and resources," the DIPP said.

Start-ups covered under this scheme will not be required to get a A-certificate of an eligible business from the Inter-Ministerial Board of Certification, it said.

"However, start-ups will be required to give a self-declaration that they have not availed funds under any other government scheme for the purpose of paying the facilitator/patent agent/trademark agent for filing and prosecuting their IP application," DIPP added.

In 2016, the government announced several incentives, including tax benefits, under a Start-up India Action Plan.

While the DIPP has empanelled several facilitators for providing IPR-related services to start-ups, the government has decided to bear the entire cost of facilitation for filing of patents, trademarks or designs.