Case law - Conditions for taking patent costs into account - February 2020
The judges consider as eligible the only costs of taking, maintaining and defending patents which are actually incurred by the company.
It is therefore ruled in this case that a company which has transferred ownership of the technology it produces cannot claim the benefit of the CIR for the costs of taking, maintaining and defending patents, only it re-invoices the companies holding these patents.
Consequently, Instruction 4 A-10-08 of 26-12-2008 nos. 20 and 21, reproduced in BOI-BIC-RICI-10-10-20-30 no. 230, which allows research expenditure incurred by a non-approved company to be taken into account in calculating its own CIR, even if it is re-invoiced, does not apply in this case.
Finally, it should be noted that this case law does not confirm the possibility for rank 2, which is responsible for the final cost of the invoice, to value the latter. Even if it bears the burden, remains a subject of interpretation given that historical practices give rise to the absence of intermediaries between the eligible invoicing organization and the declaring company.
