By Emmanuel Gougé and Valicha Torrecilla

Small and medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”) are defined in the European Union (“EU”) Commission Recommendation of May 6, 2003 as “enterprises which employ fewer than 250 persons and which have an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million, and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million.” Globally, according to a report from the World Intellectual Property Organisation, SMEs account for 95 percent of companies and 60 to 70 percent of employment in the OECD countries.