Annual Technical Report on Industrial Design Information Activities in 2015 submitted by the Estonian Patent Office
Please fill in your items before submitting your report
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 expression "industrial designs" covers industrial designs and models.
Offices which issue design patents should report their design patent information activities in this series of Annual Technical Reports.
I. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
In Estonia, the protection of industrial designs can be applied for on the grounds of the Industrial Designs Protection Act that entered into force on 11 January 1998. From 1 May 2004, legal acts of the European Community concerning industrial designs, including the Council Regulation 6/2002/EC of 12 December 2001 on legal protection of the Community Designs, are also valid in Estonia.
Pursuant to the Regulation, all industrial designs disclosed to public in the territory of the European Union automatically have a 3-year protection against copying as well as other existing possibilities for registration.
Estonia acceded to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs on 23 December 2003. Common Regulations of the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the Deposit of Industrial Design entered into force on 1 April 2004. To protect an industrial design via the Hague system, an application in English or French should be filed with the International Bureau of WIPO in Geneva, designating the countries where protection is wanted.
In Estonia, industrial designs are registered by formal registration system. The Estonian Patent Office does not examine the industrial design as to its novelty, individual character, industrial applicability or the right of a person to file the application. The rights of the owner of the registered industrial design may be contested in court.
On 4 December 2008, the Estonian Patent Office started electronic receival of applications for registration of industrial designs via a portal of electronic filing. The industrial design registration application can be sent online to the Patent Office only after the applicant or a patent attorney has signed it digitally. The Patent Office accepts other documents related to the application electronically, but they have to be digitally signed too. Upon request, the Patent Office issues a notification of the acceptance of the industrial design application. The notification can be saved or printed.
In 2015, the Patent Office received 50 industrial design registration applications, which is nearly a third less than in 2014. 25 applicants, i.e. exactly 50% filed their industrial design applications electronically in 2015. 12 applications for international registration were filed under the Hague Agreement – a third more than in 2014 .
36 people were given altogether 25 hours of consultations in the Patent Office (37 people in 2014). In addition, many more received advice by phone or e-mail. Presentations on legal protection of industrial designs were also given in the Patent Office, but also for example in Tartu and Haapsalu.
At the end of 2015, there were 22 national applications and 4 international applications pending. The average processing time of an industrial design without deficiencies – from filing the application to decision – is approximately 2 weeks.
On 31 December 2015 there were in total 459 industrial designs in the Estonian register of industrial designs. 868 international registrations of industrial designs had been granted legal protection in Estonia. In addition, there were 634,377 industrial designs registered and disclosed to public by the European Community, including 573 from Estonia, and unregistered Community designs.
In 2015, the most popular national industrial designs were articles of clothing and haberdashery, furniture and articles for hunting. The most popular international registrations were packages and containers for the transport or handling of goods, and also machines. By country, the majority of applications and international registrations were filed from Estonia (79%). Other applications were filed from EU member states (13%), USA (5%) and elsewhere.
Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of industrial design information activities and expected time frames for their realization
New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies(plans) mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
Main areas of industrial design 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 (registrations) 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/en/news/annual-report-2015-estonian-patent-office-available
II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN 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
Classification and reclassification activities; classification system used, e.g., International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), other classification
http://www.epa.ee/en/industrial-designs/what-industrial-design
Other activities
III. SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE
http://andmebaas.epa.ee/avalik/#/design
Main types of publications in the field of industrial design information, outline of the content (industrial design applications, design patents, registrations, etc.) and medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URLs)
http://www.epa.ee/en/databases/industrial-designs-databases
Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URL), etc.
http://www.epa.ee/en/official-gazettes/estonian-industrial-design-gazette
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external documentation and databases
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) and services available to external users; conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)
http://andmebaas.epa.ee/avalik/#/design
Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)
Other sources
IV. ICT SUPPORT TO SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office: general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvements
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 INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION
http://www.epa.ee/en/industrial-designs/what-industrial-design
Office's library (if deals with industrial design information): equipment, collection management, network of libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign libraries
Publications related to different business procedures and industrial design information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
http://www.epa.ee/et/metoodilised-valjaanded/valjaanded-toostusdisainilahendusest
Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
Education and training: training courses, e learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
http://www.epa.ee/et/seminarid
Other activities
VI.INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION
International exchange of industrial design information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)
Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to industrial design information
Assistance to developing countries
Other activities
VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS
http://www.epa.ee/en/news/annual-report-2015-estonian-patent-office-available