Annual Technical Report 2012 on Trademark Information Activities submitted by Estonia (CWS/ATR/TM/2012/EE)
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I. Evolution of registration activities
In Estonia it is possible to apply for the protection of Trade marks under the Trade Marks Act that took effect on 1 May 2004 (the first Trade Marks Act entered into Forde in 1992). From 1 May 2004 the EU legal acts concerning trade marks are also valid in Estonia.
Since spring 2007 it has been possible to file the trademark applications through the electronic filing portal. The portaal enables to fill in and send trademark registration applications to the Estonian Patent Office and to look at the applications filed earlier. Anyone can fill in the form, but only the applicant (or a patent attorney representing him/her) can sign it. Estonian ID-card and its reader are required. Upon request the Office issues a notification about the acceptance of the application. The notification can be saved or printed. 47% of the Estonian applicants used the possibilities of electronic filing in 2012. Other documents relating to the examination can be filed electronically with a digital signature.
There are four possibilities to obtain legal protection for a trade mark in Estonia: • by registering it in the register of trademarks and service marks by filing an application with the Estonian Patent Office; • by registering it with the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) requesting legal protection in Estonia;
• by making a trade mark well known in Estonia; • by registering it as a Community trade mark with the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM).
1,106 trade mark registration applications were filed in 2012, which was about 11% less than last year (1,254 applications in 2010). The number of applications filed by Estonian applicants has decreased. If there were 888 applications filed in 2011, then in 2012 there were 857, which is about 3.5% less. International trade mark registrations designating Estonia numbered 1,535 (1,788 in 2011). There were 14% less International registrations than last year. In total 2,641 trade marks were filed for legal protection (3,042 in 2011). A general falling tendency that began already in 2004 due to Estonia's accession to the European Union continued in 2012. In conclusion the number of applications has decreased 13% in comparison with last year. At the end of the year 888,373 Community trade marks were valid in Estonia, including 790 trade marks from Estonia, 28,600 registered national trade marks and 32,590 international trade marks with legal protection extended to Estonia.
The Trademark Department rendered 3,581decisions - 1,606 for national applications and 1,975 for International registrations, which is about 5% less than in 2011 (3,801 decisions). Estonian applicants filed 49 international trademark registration applications for forwarding to WIPO (40 in 2011). Among the countries designated for protection, Russia was the first, followed by Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, China and Ukraine. In about 40% of the applications the European Union was designated.
In 2012 applications from the EU member states made up 64.1% of the total of trade mark applications, including 33.5% from Estonian applicants. Among the EU member states Germany was the most interested in gaining legal protection in Estonia. Applications and international registrations from Germany formed 4.7% of the total of applications, followed by France (3.3%) and Italy (2.6%). Of other states Russia (10.9%), China (5.3%), Switzerland (5%), the USA (3.7%) were the most interested.
The most popular goods for which legal protection was applied in 2012 were pharmaceutical preparations (7.4%), followed by electrical and scientific apparatus (5.2%), foodstuffs (4.9%), as well as cosmetics (3.9%).
The most popular services were advertising, business management and office functions (9.8%), followed by education, training, entertainment, cultural and sports activities (5.8%), scientific and technological research, design and development of computer hard- and software (4.3%).
Trade mark applications are fully examined on both absolute and relative (prior right) grounds. The average duration of the examination of trademarks and international registrations is 10-12 months, but in 2012 the examination of national applications took 15 months, because the large number of applications filed in previous years caused a longer examination queue than usual.
Trade marks are published in the Estonian Trademark Gazette twice - first, in Part I when the decision on trade mark registration has been made, and second, in Part III after the entry of a trade mark in the register of trade marks and service marks. International registrations are published for appeal in Part II of the Gazette.
Disputes concerning trademarks are resolved in the Industrial Property Board of Appeal, and in court.
In 2012 42 appeals and oppositions were granted. 20 of the granted oppositions concerned national trade marks and 19 international registrations. 3 oppositions, 2 of them concerning national trademarks and 1 concerning international registrations, were granted.
TOP 5 Registered trade marks in 2012
Estonia 841
USA 54
Switzerland 53
SoFinland 39
Latvia 22
TOP 5 International registrations of trade marks
entered into force in Estonia in 2012
Russia 270
Germany 184
China 144
Switzerland 119
France 108
TOP 5 Trade mark registrations valid in Estonia,
31.12.2012
Estonia 10 623
USA 4545
Germany 2688
Switzerland 1512
France 1225
International registrations of trade marks
valid in Estonia, 31.12.2012
Germany 7612
France 3004
Switzerland 2632
Russia 1910
Italy 1824
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide statistics related to trademarks
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International Classifications (Nice Classification, Vienna Classification) of Goods and Services for the purpose of the registration of marks are used.
Before filing a registration application with The Patent Office, it is possible to submit an enquiry on registered and pending trademarks and to use the database of trademarks via the Internet which also includes international registrations of trademarks designating the Republic of Estonia.
International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks used in the Estonian Patent Office (in Estonian)
http://www.epa.ee/client/default.asp?wa_id=831&wa_id_key=
Obligation for applicants to use pre-defined terms of the classification applied
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For those who are interested, including the Customs Authorities, Police and Commercial Register, the Trademark Database is available on the Internet. This contains data about registered and pending trade marks, as well as international registrations designating Estonia. The database is updated twice a week.
External databases
There is also possibility to use CTM-online via web page of the Estonian Patent Office.
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Important event of 2012 for the Patent Office was transition from the area of government of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications to the area of government of the Ministry of Justice, where all activities in the field of intellectual property were brought together. In the beginning of 2012 the Information Technology of the Patent Office was consolidated with the the Ministry of Justice related with the processing of the applications for legal protection of industrial property were transferred to the Centre of Registers and Information Systems. Therefore the Patent Office does not deal with the development and improvement of client oriented information technological services (incl. public databases, portal of electronic filing of applications etc.).
The work area of the Patent Office presumes processing of a large amount of information, which takes place in compliance with particular precise International agreements and is very standardized. Information technology facilities of the Office form a tightly coupling system and its functioning without failures is essential in the everyday work of the office.
The information system of processing at the Patent Office consists of six registers (register of trade and service marks, register of patents, register of geographical indications, register of European patents valid in Estonia, register of utility models, register of industrial designs), for the administration of which application software Common Software, database software Informix and operation system UNIX are used. The information system of processing is connected with the portal of electronic filing of applications for legal protection of industrial property via which the received applications are imported by the interface to the databases and from there the data to be published from the registers are sent to separately located search databases.
Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), carriers used
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Cooperation with Tallinn City Enterprise continued successfully as well. On 2 October there was a subsequent Tallinn Entrepreneurship Day, where this time the formula of success was searched for. Proceeding from that the Small-Sized Enterprise Support Division arranged a seminar “Can Protection of Industrial Property Ensure the Success of the Enterprise? How Does It Work?“, where links between protection of inventions and trade marks, and success were highlighted.
Traditionally the Small-Sized Enterprise Support Division arranged two big seminars: in April a seminar “Protection of Industrial Property for Beginners“ celebrating the World Intellectual Property Day and in November a seminar on the link between patent protection and business model of the entrepreneur, software patents, business secrets, franchise etc. Theoretical side was illustrated with examples from the practice of industrial design and patent.
Training courses for national and foreign participants
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X. Other relevant matters