Annual Technical Report 2011 on Patent Information Activities submitted by Estonia (CWS/ATR/PI/2011/EE)
Where URLs are requested below, it is preferred that either URLs which are likely to remain stable over time (three years or more) are provided, or home (main) page URLs are provided with a short explanation of how to access the corresponding information.
The term "patent" covers utility models and Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs). Offices which issue design patents should report their design patent information activities in their Annual Technical Reports on Industrial Design Information Activities.
I. Evolution of patent activities
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Patent protection is granted to all scientific and technological inventions, including medical products. Plant or animal varieties and methods for treatment of the
human or animal body and diagnostic methods practiced on the human or animal body are not patentable.
In November 2008 the Estonian Patent Office began electronic reception of patent applications. The address of the portal is http://online.epa.ee/.
The Estonian ID card is required for the entry into the portal. An application can only be filed with the Estonian Patent Office after it has been digitally signed by the
applicant or the patent attorney. Upon request the Estonian Patent Office issues a notification about the acceptance of the patent application. The notification can be saved or printed. 28 applicants used the possibilities of electronic filing of an application in 2011.
From the patent applications received in 2011 83% were from Estonian applicants, 10% from the member states of the European Union (excluding Estonia) and 5% from the USA.
By fields the largest number of patent applications filed by Estonian applicants were related to physics and electronics (including IT) – 14, agriculture – 12, medical products and medical science – 6 and construction – 4.
Trends or areas experiencing rapid changes with respect to the previous year
TOP 5 Patents granted in 2011
Estonia 32
USA 22
Germany 17
Sweden 8
Switzerland 6
TOP 5 Patents valid on 31December 2011
Sweden 251
USA 190
Germany 183
Finland 127
France 102
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide statistics related to patents
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http://www.epa.ee/default.asp?wa_id=512
http://www.epa.ee/default.asp?wa_id=513
III. Matters concerning abstracting, classifying, reclassifying and indexing of technical information contained in patent documents
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The databases of the office are the core subject of the information system. These databases are administered by the Common Software (CS). CS is a system with client server architecture, based on the database software Informix and operation system UNIX. Automated data entry software SPIRIT-MECA is also integrated to CS. To facilitate trademark examination procedure the software ACSEPTO of figurative and verbal searches is in use. The search base is quite large containing data of trademarks valid in Estonia and Community trademarks, also data of the emblems, official control and warranty signs and names of international intergovernmental organizations under protection in compliance with Article 6ter of Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. In cooperation with the European Patent Organization there is a direct connection (Patnet2) that enables the examiners to use the databases of EPO in their work.
Several e-services are available at our homepage. The portal of electronic filing of trademarks has been accessible since April 2007, in 2008 software for the electronic filing of patent, utility model and industrial design applications was added, as well as software for filing the Estonian-language patent specifications of the European patents validated in Estonia. So digitally signed applications can be filed without coming to the Office. The portal is available at the address online.epa.ee. In addition, the services of the databases of electronic searches have been available on the web page of the Estonian Patent Office (www.epa.ee) for a long time.
External databases
EPOQUE, Delphion, Espacenet, USPTO, Derwent, ROSPATENT, SciFinder, Chem.Abstr., PubMed, EBSCOhost, DEPATISnet, Epoline, Google Patent Search-BETA, PCT Applications, Estonian Patent Applications and Patents, European Patents Validated in Estonia, Estonian Utility Models, Vivisimo.
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The Estonian Patent Information Centre has agreements with 19 patent offices and 1 organization on exchange of patent gazettes and with 20 patent offices and 1 organization on exchange of utility model gazettes, (aasta lõpus) with 11 patent offices and 1 organization on exchange of patent gazettes and with 11 patent offices and 1 organization on exchange of utility model gazettes.
VIII. Other relevant matters concerning education and training in, and promotion of, the use of patent information, including technical assistance to developing countries (please indicate URLs of web pages of the Office’s website wherever appropriate)
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2011 was the sixth year of operation for the Small-sized Enterprise Support Division. The main goal of the Division is to arrange events for entrepreneurs and the public in order to rise the awareness about the legal protection of intellectual property as well as to ensure that the Estonian Patent Office attends events (lectures, presentations etc.) introducing intellectual property arranged by other institutions.
The year brought along several changes. There was much work as well as success. Many activities undertaken in the previous years continued.
In 2011 the seminars held in the classroom of the Patent Office played an essential role. Namely the Division arranged 7 seminars in the classroom (2 seminars on the legal protection of inventions, 2 on registration of trademarks, 1 on protection of industrial designs and 2 on protection of both the trademarks and industrial designs). Demand for such seminars is very high.
In 2011 the Small-sized Enterprise Support Division of the Patent Office did cooperation with the development centres of the counties. This cooperation is of important to support the regional development of Estonia and the main aim is to raise the awareness about industrial property in the whole republic. This year the Division arranged an info day on intellectual property in Põlva. Besides the lecturers of the Patent Office also a patent attorney gave a presentation on the services provided by the patent agencies and Põlvamaa Development Centre shared its experience in registration of a trademark.
In addition, cooperation with other institutions is still important for the Small-sized Enterprise Support Division. So the examiners of the Patent Office gave presentations on inventions and trademarks for the second year student of economy at Pärnu College. The total number of students, who attended the lectures, was 73.
From 3-9 October 2011 an Entrepreneurship Week took place all over Estonia. Its aim was to raise the awareness of the society on entrepreneurship and to increase the knowledge of the entrepreneurs. In the framework of the Entrepreneurship Week a seminar “Which Benefits Does the Legal Protection of Intellectual Property Provide?“ was arranged by the Patent Office in cooperation with the Entrepreneurship Department of Tartu City Government in Tartu on 5 October. Besides the presentations made by lecturers from the Patent Office experience on protection of inventions was shared by a local entrepreneur from Leidi Consult Ltd.. By the was the Patent Office was invited to the seminar at Võrumaa Entrepreneurship Week on 5 October, where our examiners disseminated their knowledge on protection of inventions and registration of trademarks. Cooperation with Tallinn City Enterprise continued successfully as well. On 5-6 October there was a subsequent Tallinn Entrepreneurship Day, where the Patent Office participated. On both days the Patent Office was there with an info desk providing consultations, information and publications on intellectual property. The Patent Office arranged also a seminar ”Industrial Property and Entrepreneurship Culture” in the framework of Tallinn Entrepreneurship Day.
Traditionally the Small-sized Enterprise Support Division arranged two big seminars for SME-s in Tallinn: in April a seminar "Intellectual Property in SME-s“ celebrating the World Intellectual Property Day and in October a seminar "Possibilities of Legal Protection of Industrial Property in the European Union".
Promotional activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.)
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X. Other relevant matters
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| 1. | Classification is allotting one or more classification symbols (e.g., IPC symbols) to a patent application, either before or during search and examination, which symbols are then published with the patent application.
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| 2. | Preclassification is allotting an initial broad classification symbol (e.g., IPC class or subclass, or administrative unit) to a patent application, using human or automated means for internal administrative purposes (e.g., routing an application to the appropriate examiner). Usually preclassification is applied by the administration of an office.
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| 3. | Reclassification is the reconsideration and usually the replacement of one or more previously allotted classification symbols to a patent document, following a revision and the entry into force of a new version of the Classification system (e.g., the IPC). The new symbols are available on patent databases.
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