Annual Technical Report on Industrial Design Information Activities in 2021 submitted by the Estonian Patent Office

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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:

  1. Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of industrial design information activities and expected time frames for their realization
  2. New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies(plans) mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
  3. Main areas of industrial design information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year
  4. Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and grants (registrations) with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
  5. Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.


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 concerning Community 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.

In 2021, the Estonian Patent Office received 40 industrial design registration applications, exactly the same amount as last year. 36 people looking to register an industrial design were from Estonia and 4 were from other countries. All applicants used the possibility to submit an electronic application. Estonian applicants submitted 182 applications to the European Union Intellectual Property Office, which is in the same range as in 2020 (184). 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 remained the same. In 2021, 35 applications were filed this way (36 in 2020).

By the end of 2021, there were 10 national applications and 18 international applications pending. On 31 December 2021 there were in total 370 industrial designs in the Estonian register of industrial designs.

The annual report: https://aastaraamat.epa.ee/en/annual-report-2021/industrial-designs

Statistics: https://www.epa.ee/en/office-news-contact/patent-office/statistics#2021d

II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

Information on the following topics is desired:

  1. Information and support provided by the Office to applicants regarding filing on paper and/or e-filing (instructions, seminars, etc.) - URLs
  2. Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
  3. Classification and reclassification activities; classification system used, e.g., International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), other classification
  4. Other activities
  1. Information events: https://aastaraamat.epa.ee/en/annual-report-2021/information-events
  2. https://www.epa.ee/en/industrial-designs/filing-application/how-protect-industrial-design-estonia
    https://www.epa.ee/disainilahendused/lisateave/juhendid-ja-teavikud
    https://www.epa.ee/en/industrial-designs/filing-application/brochures
  3. 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:

  1. 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)
  2. Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URL), etc.
  3. Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external documentation and databases
  4. Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) and services available to external users; conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)

  5. Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)

  6. Other sources

https://www.epa.ee/disainilahendused/lisateave/juhendid-ja-teavikud
https://www.epa.ee/en/industrial-designs/filing-application/brochures

https://www.epa.ee/en/industrial-designs/when-industrial-design-registered/estonian-industrial-design-gazette

https://www.epa.ee/en/industrial-designs/search-databases/industrial-designs-databases
https://andmebaas.epa.ee/avalik/#/design

https://www.epa.ee/en/node/235#item-4

IV. ICT SUPPORT TO SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

Information on the following topics is desired:

  1. Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office: general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvements
  2. Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office
  3. Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
  4. Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
  5. Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)
  6. Other matters

Back Office - Application Developed with the support of the Cooperation Fund

https://aastaraamat.epa.ee/en/annual-report-2021/e-services-estonian-patent-office

V. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES AIMED TO SUPPORT USERS IN ACCESS AND EFFICIENT USE OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION

Information on the following topics is desired:

  1. Office's library (if deals with industrial design information): equipment, collection management, network of libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign libraries
  2. Publications related to different business procedures and industrial design information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.

  3. Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.

  4. Education and training: training courses, e learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
  5. Other activities

https://aastaraamat.epa.ee/en/annual-report-2021/public-awareness-policies

https://aastaraamat.epa.ee/en/annual-report-2021/information-events

https://www.epa.ee/disainilahendused/lisateave/juhendid-ja-teavikud

VI.INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION

Information on the following topics is desired:

  1. International exchange of industrial design information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)
  2. Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to industrial design information

  3. Assistance to developing countries

  4. Other activities

https://aastaraamat.epa.ee/en/annual-report-2021/international-cooperation

https://www.epa.ee/en/office-news-contact/international-cooperation/cooperation-euipo

VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS

https://aastaraamat.epa.ee/en/annual-report-2021/