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Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of patent information activities and expected time frames for their realization
Inventions can be protected as patents or utility models on the grounds of the Patent Act and the Utility Model Act, which entered into force on 23 May 1994.
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Due to the fact that Estonia became a full member of the EPO in 2002, the number of filed patent applications has decreased year by year. As in 2003 the number of applications was ~15% less than in 2001 and 2002, in 2016 it was already ~95% less. Another reason why the number of filed applications is smaller is that applicants no longer file the first application with the Estonian Patent Office, but directly with the EPO or the patent office of another country.
Patents
Patent protection is granted to all scientific and technological inventions. Computer programs, plant or animal varieties, and methods for treatment and diagnostic methods are not patentable.
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Disputes concerning patents are resolved in the Industrial Property Board of Appeal and in court. In 2016, none of the decisions on a patent application made by the Estonian Patent Office was appealed to the Board of Appeal.
European Patents
Inventions can be protected by the European patent in Estonia since 1 July 2002, when Estonia became a full member of the European Patent Organisation (EPO). Starting from that date Estonia can be designated in the European patent application as a state where a European patent is intended to be validated. Moreover, Estonian and foreign applicants can file a European patent application via the Estonian Patent Office to the EPO.
To validate a European patent in Estonia the proprietor should file a translation of the patent specification into Estonian with the Estonian Patent Office and pay the prescribed fee for making it available to the public within 3 months from the date of notification of the grant of the European patent by the EPO. Upon payment of an additional state fee, the term for submitting the translation can be extended by 2 months.
The European patent valid in Estonia is legally equal to the Estonian patent. The Estonian Patent Office keeps the register of the European patents valid in Estonia.
To keep a European patent valid in Estonia the proprietor has to pay a renewal fee for each year of validity, starting from the second year after the EPO has notified of the grant of the European patent. The state fee can be paid up to 6 months before the due date for payment or, in case of paying the supplementary fee, up to 6 months after the due date for payment. The due date for payment is the last day of the calendar month in which the year of validity of the European patent starts.
The first European patents entered into force in Estonia in 2004. In 2016 there were 1,610 European patent applications filed, 1,314 (82%) electronically. Most of the European patents enforced in Estonia in 2016 were from USA (391), Germany (235) and Switzerland (151).
By the end of 2016 there were in total 8,136 European patents valid in Estonia, 1889 of them from USA, 1228 from Germany and 826 from Switzerland. By the end of 2016, no European patent applications to be forwarded to the EPO had been filed with the Estonian Patent Office.
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New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
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The Estonian Patent Office publishes the following official gazettes:
The Estonian Trademark Gazette – published since September 1993;
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Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office: general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvements
In 2016, the most important event on the field of IT in the Estonian Patent Office was the introduction of new software package Back Office for trade marks and designs. Said system was developed by the OHIM Cooperation Fund and customized to meet the neeeds of the Estonian Patent Office. Back Office replaces Common Software that was in use since 1996, and enables to carry out electronic examination of trade marks and industrial designs. The system is linked to many IT-interfaces and X-road solutions. The new system enables to send digitally signed documents, to check data in the business register and population register, to use the address register to enter Estonian addresses, to check a person’s data in the European Union and United Nations consolidated list. It is also linked to a financial service which is a subsystem of the register of taxable persons – a register that administers the financial claims of the country and keeps account how these are fulfilled.
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Patent library: equipment, collection management, network of patent libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign patent libraries
Generally, patent information is information on published patent applications, granted patents and registered utility models. Original information comes from the official publications of the national patent offices. Patent information may later be processed to the level where the patent information of different states is collected into one uniform database to provide more convenient access.
The value of the patent information compared to that of other scientific and engineering information is that it contains the quickest access to the newest information about inventions. As a rule, the inventions are kept top secret before the publication of the patent applications.
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Publications related to different business procedures and patent information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
In 2016, the Estonian Patent Office continued with the policies that most of the materials will be published electronically and will be accessible and downloadable on our web page. Only a small amount of publications would still be on paper.
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Cooperation with universities, research centers, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
. In 2016 many meaningful WIPO seminars took place in Estonia (the list of seminars can be seen on our web page). Moreover, the Director Generalof the Estonian Patent Office participated at an intellectual property strategies conference in Tbilisi, organized by WIPO. The Patent Office mediates the WIPO Schoolchildren's Trophy each year. In 2016, WIPO started a Baltic States Pilot Project for the Development of a Regional Pool of IP Commercialization Experts. Part of this project is a capacity building program for regional professionals to develop necessary competences in the area of knowledge transfer and IP commercialization. As a result, a regional pool of experts and a cooperation network between Baltic universities will be established. The project will be carried out by WIPO, in cooperation with the patent offices and universities of Baltic States. From Estonia, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tallinn University of Applied Sciences, Tallinn University of Technology and University of Tartu take part.
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In 2016, the Estonian Patent Office arranged or helped arrange 27 information events in order to raise the awareness of intellectual property. Regular seminars concerning the protection of inventions, trade marks and industrial designs took place in the classroom of the Patent Office and round table meetings was arranged with the patent attorneys.
In 2016 the cooperation with county development centres (Järva County Development Centre, Rapla County Development Centre, Harju County Entrepreneurship and Development Consultancy, Saaremaa Development Centre) and Tallinn City Enterprise Department became more extensive – joint events were organized where the importance of intellectual property protection was empathized. The products and experience in the field of IP protection of several enterprises (Ulaelu Ltd., Creative Woodworks Ltd., Leisi Lapikoda Ltd. and Digimist Ltd.) were also introduced.
The year 2016 was an exceptionally busy year in terms of international cooperation – two seminars were held for interested people. In October, in collaboration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and Finnish Patent and Registration Office a seminar was arranged for the users of the Patent Prosecution Highway, and in November, in collaboration with WIPO, a seminar introducing the services of WIPO.
Moreover, in autumn 2016, WIPO started a pilot project called “Baltic States Pilot Project for the Development of a Regional Pool of IP Commercialization Experts” where 17 universities from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia take part. This is a capacity building program for regional professionals to develop necessary competences in the area of knowledge transfer and IP commercialization. As a result, a regional pool of experts and a cooperation network between Baltic universities will be established. The project will be carried out from 2016 to 2017.
For the second year, we took part in the Estonian Contest for Young Inventors, where the WIPO Schoolchildren’s Trophy was handed over to a clever inventor. Anneli Simmul, chief examiner of the patent department, started working at the evaluation committe of this competition.
Other activities
specialists of the Estonian Patent Office continued to provide free consultations on the compilation of trade mark, industrial design and utility model applications as well as patent applications.
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