Annual Technical Report on Industrial Design Information Activities in 2022 submitted by Estonia
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The term "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
Information on the following topics is desired:
- 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
- Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
In 2022, the Estonian Patent Office received 4380 industrial design registration applications, which is slightly less than in 2021 but still of the same magnitude (40 applications). 27 people looking to register an industrial design were from Estonia and 11 were from other countries. This is a significant increase; in 2021, people from other countries filed four applications. Almost all applicants (37) used the possibility to submit an electronic application. The most applications were filed in the groups “transport or lifting equipment” (7 applications), furnishings” (6 applications), “lighting” (5 applications) and “clothing” (4 applications).
Estonian applicants submitted 162 applications to the European Union Intellectual Property Office, which is 20 less than in 2021 (186). Applications filed like that will acquire protection in the whole territory of the European Union, including Estonia.
The number of applications for international registration of industrial designs filed under the Hague Agreement has also decreased. In 2022, 25 applications were filed this way, which is ten fewer than in 2021 (35) and far behind the 2017 record (88 applications). The highest number of applications were filed from France (8 applications) and Switzerland (5 applications). Estonian applicants did not submit any applications under the Hague Agreement in 2022. The most applications were filed in the groups “packages or containers for the transport or handling of goods” (5 applications).
By the end of 2022, there were only 3 national applications and 12 international applications pending. On 31 December 2022 there were in total 356 industrial designs in the Estonian register of industrial designs and 450 international industrial design registrations with legal protection in Estonia. These are figures that appear to show a paradoxical decline – the number of registrations should increase over time, but instead it decreases. This can be explained by the fact that the duration of design protection is not indefinite (as it is in the case of trade mark extension) and, secondly, there is no need to extend the protection after the first or second protection period (one period of 5 years).
https://www.epa.ee/en/office-news-contact/patent-office/annual-reports
II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Information on the following topics is desired:
- Information and support provided by the Office to applicants regarding filing on paper and/or e-filing (instructions, seminars, etc.) - URLs
- 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
- Other activities
https://www.epa.ee/en/industrial-designs/filing-application/how-protect-industrial-design-estonia
https://www.epa.ee/en/industrial-designs/filing-application/brochures
https://www.epa.ee/en/industrial-designs/filing-application/forms
Information events: https://aastaraamat.epa.ee/en/annual-report-2022/information-events
Locarno classification: https://www.epa.ee/disainilahendused/taotluse-esitamine/klasside-ja-alaklasside-loend
III. SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE
Information on the following topics is desired:
- 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)
- Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URL), etc.
- 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.)
Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)
Other sources
https://www.epa.ee/en/industrial-designs/filing-application/brochures
https://www.epa.ee/en/industrial-designs/search-databases/industrial-designs-databases
IV. ICT SUPPORT TO SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Information on the following topics is desired:
- 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
Estonian Patent Office's IT has been consolidated to the Estonian IT Centre, which is responsible for all hardware, software, and servers.
V. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES AIMED TO SUPPORT USERS IN ACCESS AND EFFICIENT USE OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION
Information on the following topics is desired:
- 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.
Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
- Education and training: training courses, e learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
- Other activities
In Estonia, there is no institution such as a patent library, all patent-related activities have been centralized into the office
VI.INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION
Information on the following topics is desired:
- 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