Annual Technical Report on Patent Information Activities in 2015 submitted by the Estonian Patent Office
I. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN PATENT INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of patent information activities and expected time frames for their realization
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.
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 the applicant or the patent attorney has signed it digitally. Upon request, the Estonian Patent Office issues a notification about the acceptance of the patent application. The notification can be saved or printed. 14 applicants used the possibility of e-filing of an application in 2015.
From the patent applications received in 2015, 83% were from Estonian applicants and 11% from the member states of the European Union (excluding Estonia).
The Patent Office examines the compliance of filed patent applications with the formal requirements and carries out substantive examination of the invention, examining the novelty of the invention worldwide, the inventive step and industrial applicability.
In 2015 the main reasons for rejection or withdrawal of patent applications were the non-compliance of the invention with the patentability criteria (30,4%), the non-compliance of the patent application with the formal requirements (30,4%) or the unity of the invention was not disclosed in the patent application (17.4%).
The average duration of the examination of a patent application is 2 years. The patent application is published in 18 months from the filing date or priority date. The registration of the invention in the register of patents is deemed the grant of a patent. A traditional letters patent is issued to the patentee.
The term of validity of the patent is 20 years from the filing date of the patent application; a renewal fee must be paid for each year of validity.
Since 1 January 2013, the Patent Department examines applications for supplementary protection for medical products and plant protection products. Supplementary protection for medical products and plant protection products is valid for five years after the patent has expired. Since 2000, the total number of filed applications is 208.
On July 2015 The Estonian Patent Office joined the internatinal pilot program of Global Patent Prosecution Highway ─ GPPH. Under PPH a patent examination system is applied where – upon the request of the applicant – a participating patent office uses the results of other participating offices that have examined the same patent application, thus resulting in faster examination of the application. In 2015, 2 patent applications were examined under PPH.
Disputes concerning patents are resolved in the Industrial Property Board of Appeal and in court. In 2014, 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. By the end of 2015 there were in total 7,422 European patents valid in Estonia. By the end of 2015, no European patent applications to be forwarded to the EPO had been filed with the Estonian Patent Office.
New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
At the beginning of 2015, we started cooperating with the Embassy of the United States in order to prepare Estonia for joining the PPH (Patent Prosecution Highway) program. After intense interaction and collaboration with the patent offices of USA and Japan Estonia finally acceded the program on 6 July 2015. Being a member of this program enables quicker high-quality examination of the patent application without doubling the examination procedures in different patent offices.
Main areas of patent information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year
Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and grants with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
http://www.epa.ee/en/statistics/statistics-2015
Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
http://www.epa.ee/sites/www.epa.ee/files/elfinder/dokumendid/aasta2015.pdf
II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO PATENT INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Information and support provided by the Office to applicants regarding filing on paper and/or e-filing (instructions, seminars, etc.) - URLs
http://www.epa.ee/en/additional-info/free-consultations
Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
http://www.epa.ee/en/additional-info/forms
Classification1, preclassification2 (if applicable), reclassification3 activities; classification systems used (e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC)); matters concerning indexing of patent information
http://www.epa.ee/en/patent-information-and-services/patent-information
Abstracting, reviewing, and translation of the information contained in patent documents
Other activities
III. SOURCES OF PATENT INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE
Main types of publications of the Office (patent applications, full text, first pages, abstracts, bibliographic data, granted patents, etc.), medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URLs)
http://www.epa.ee/en/official-gazettes/estonian-patent-gazette
Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URL), etc.
http://www.epa.ee/en/additional-info/publications
Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external collections and databases
Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to external users, conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)
http://www.epa.ee/en/databases/inventions-databases
Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)
http://www.epa.ee/en/databases/inventions-databases
Other sources
http://www.epa.ee/en/news
IV. ICT SUPPORT TO SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO PATENT INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office: general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvements
In 2015, the goal for IT developments was to promote intellectual property protection e-services and to update examination software.
The use of e-services should simplify and encourage people to offer innovational solutions. The Office’s web page (www.epa.ee) provides many e-services: applications for legal protection of industrial property can be filed and applications filed earlier can be browsed at the portal of e-filing (online.epa.ee); at the portal of e-services (teenused.epa.ee) online applications concerning the registration, period of validity, changes in data and transfer of rights and ownership of trade marks and designs can be filed with the Patent Office.
Services of electronic search databases can be also used on our web page (http://www.epa.ee/en/additional-info/databases). The trademark database is the most visited, but as user statistics show, visits to the inventions’ and industrial designs’ databases are also frequent. Starting from last year, we also display the overview of supplementary protection certificates for medicinal products and plant protection products (SPC) on our web page.
Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office
Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)
Other matters
V. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES AIMED TO SUPPORT USERS IN ACCESS AND EFFICIENT USE OF PATENT INFORMATION
Patent library: equipment, collection management, network of patent libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign patent libraries
Publications related to different business procedures and patent information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
http://www.epa.ee/en/publications/methodical-publications
Office's initiatives on providing foreign patent information in the local language(s) (e.g., machine translation tools, translation of abstracts)
Cooperation with universities, research centers, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
http://www.epa.ee/et/seminarid/rss
Education and training: training courses, e-learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
Other activities
VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF PATENT INFORMATION
International exchange and sharing of patent information in machine-readable form, e.g., priority documents, bibliographic data, abstracts, search reports, full text information
http://www.epa.ee/en/patent-information-and-services/patent-information
Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to patent information
http://www.epa.ee/et/uudised/wipo-avas-uue-ulikoolidele-ja-teadusasutustele-suunatud-veebilehe
Assistance to developing countries
Other activities
http://www.epa.ee/en/news/director-general-estonian-patent-office-hands-over-wipo-award-estonian-contest-young-inventors
VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS
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.
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.
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.