Annual Technical Report 2011 on Trademark Information Activities submitted by Estonia (CWS/ATR/TM/2011/EE)
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.
I. Evolution of registration activities
Changes experienced in terms of application filings and registrations with respect to the previous year
In Estonia it is possible to apply for the protection of trademarks under the Trademark Act that took effect on 1 May 2004 (the first Trademark Act entered into force in 1992). From 1 May 2004 the EU legal acts concerning trademarks are also valid in Estonia.
Since spring 2007 it has been possible to file the trademark applications through the electronic filing portal. The portal enables to fill in and send trademark registration applications to the Estonian Patent Office and to look at the applications filed earlier. Anyone can fill in the form, but only the applicant (or a patent attorney representing him/her) can sign it. Estonian ID-card and its reader are required. Upon request the Office issues a notification about the acceptance of the application. The notification can be saved or printed. 53% of the Estonian applicants used the possibilities of electronic filing in 2011. Other documents relating to the examination can be filed electronically with a digital signature.
There are four possibilities to obtain legal protection for a trademark in Estonia:
• by registering it in the register of trademarks and service marks by filing an application with the Estonian Patent Office;
• by registering it with the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) requesting legal protection in Estonia;
• by making a trademark well known in Estonia;
• by registering it as a Community trademark with the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM).
1,254 trademark registration applications were filed in 2011, which was about 10% less than last year (1,386 applications in 2010). The number of applications filed by Estonian applicants has decreased. If there were 1,067 applications filed in 2010, then in 2011 there were 888, which is about 17% less. International trademark registrations designating Estonia numbered 1,788 (1,746 in 2010). There were 2.5% more international registrations than last year. In total 3,042 trademarks were filed for legal protection (3,132 in 2010). A general falling tendency that began already in 2004 due to Estonia’s accession to the European Union continued in 2011. The fall has not been very drastic, but in total there were still 3% less applications than last year.
At the end of the year (on 5 December 2011) 785,859 Community trademarks were valid in Estonia, including 591 trademarks from Estonia, 28,690 registered national trademarks and 32,726 international trademarks with legal protection extended to Estonia.
The Trademark Department rendered 3,801decisions – 1,441for national applications and 2,360 for international registrations, which is about 9% less than in 2010 (4,196 decisions). Estonian applicants filed 40 international trademark registration applications for forwarding to WIPO (38 in 2010). Among the countries designated for protection, Russia was the first, followed by Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Ukraine. In about 30% of the applications the European Union was designated.
In 2011applications from the EU member states made up 65% of the total of trademarks, including 29% from Estonian applicants. Among the EU member states
Germany was the most interested in gaining legal protection in Estonia. Applications and international registrations from Germany formed 6.6% of the total of applications,
followed by France (4.2%) and Poland (2.4%). Of other states Russia (9.8%), China (5.1%), Switzerland (4.9%), the USA (3.7%) were the most interested.
The most popular goods for which legal protection was applied in 2011 were pharmaceutical preparations (7.5%), followed by foodstuffs (6.1%), electrical and
scientific apparatus (5.2%) as well as cosmetics (4.9%).
The most popular services were advertising, business management and office functions (8.2%), followed by education, training, entertainment, cultural and sports activities (5%), scientific and technological research, design and development of computer hard- and software (3.2%).
For those who are interested, including the Customs Authorities, Police and Commercial Register, the Trademark Database is available on the Internet. This
contains data about registered and pending trademarks, as well as international registrations designating Estonia. The database is updated twice a week.
The examiners of the Trademark Department provide consultations on the issues related to trademarks in the office by phone and e-mail. 92 people were given
consultations of about 49 hours in 2011. Presentations on trademarks were made at the regular trainings in the Office and also in Võru and Tartu in the framework of the entrepreneurship week as well as at a county seminar in Põlva.
Trademark applications are fully examined on both absolute (distinctive character) and relative (prior right) grounds. The average duration of the examination of
trademarks and international registrations is 10–12 months, but in 2011 the examination of national applications took 16 months, because the large number of applications filed in previous years caused a longer examination queue than usual.
Registered trademarks are published in the Estonian Trademark Gazette twice – first, in Part I when the decision on trademark registration has been made, and second, in Part III after the entry of a trademark in the register of trademarks and service marks. International registrations are published for appeal in Part II of the Gazette.
Disputes concerning trademarks are resolved in the Industrial Property Board of Appeal, and in court.
In 2011 48 appeals and oppositions were granted. 31 of the granted oppositions concerned national trademarks and 13 international registrations. 4 oppositions, 3 of them concerning national trademarks and 1 concerning international registrations, were granted.
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide statistics related to trademarks
http://www.epa.ee/client/default.asp?wa_id=565&wa_object_id=1&wa_id_key=
II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, and distribution of secondary sources of trademark information, i.e., trademark gazettes
Publishing, printing, copying techniques
The official publication of the Estonian Patent Office is the Estonian Trademark Gazette, published under the Trademark Act. The Gazette contains the text and reproductions of all trademark applications published for opposition, all trademarks that have been registered, all registrations that have been amended, renewed, expired or cancelled.
Registered trademarks are published in the Estonian Trademark Gazette twice – first, after the decision on registration of the trademark in Part I and second, after the entry of a trademark in the register of trademarks and service marks in Part III. International registrations are published for appeal in Part II of the Gazette.
The Estonian Trademark Gazette is published 12 times a year.
Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of trademark information
The Estonian Patent Office continued to issue methodological guides on legal protection of industrial property.
The Estonian Patent Office homepage at www.epa.ee was currently updated. The homepage enables access trademark registration information both in Estonian and English. It also contains all legal acts, regulations and international agreements by the Government of the Republic and Minister of Economic Affairs, and other legislation as well as material on legal protection of trademarks, relevant links, current news and the public databases.
For those who are interested, including the Customs Authorities, Police and Commercial Register, the Trademark Database is available on the Internet. This contains data about registered and pending trademarks, as well as international registrations designating Estonia. The database is updated once a week.
The examiners of the Trademark Department provide consultations on the issues related to trademarks in the office, by phone and e-mail.
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide access to online trademark gazettes and to other sources of trademark information, including download of bulk trademark data
http://www.epa.ee/default.asp?wa_id=576
III. Matters concerning classifying, reclassifying and indexing of trademark information
Classification and reclassification activities; Classification systems used, e.g., International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification), International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification), other classification (please indicate whether goods and services for the registration of marks and whether the figurative elements of marks are classified by your Office and, if so, which classification(s) is (are) used)
International Classifications (Nice Classification, Vienna Classification) of Goods and Services for the purpose of the registration of marks are used.
Before filing a registration application with the Patent Office, it is possible to submit an enquiry on registered and pending trademarks and to use the database of trademarks via the Internet which also includes international registrations of trademarks designating the Republic of Estonia.
Use of electronic classification systems to check the classification symbols furnished by an applicant and which are contained in the lists of goods and/or services
International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks used in the Estonian Patent Office (in Estonian)
http://www.epa.ee/client/default.asp?wa_id=831&wa_id_key=
Obligation for applicants to use pre-defined terms of the classification applied
No such obligation.
Bibliographic data and processing
WIPO Standard St. 60 is used for bibliographic data coding.
IV. Trademark manual search file establishment and upkeep
File Building
The Estonian Patent Office does not use the manual search files.
V. Activities in the field of computerized trademark search systems
In-house systems (online/offline)
The databases of the office are the core subject of the information system. These databases are administered by the Common Software (CS). CS is a system with client server architecture, based on the database software Informix and operation system UNIX. Automated data entry software SPIRIT-MECA is also integrated to CS. To facilitate trademark examination procedure the software ACSEPTO of figurative and verbal searches is in use. The search base is quite large containing data of trademarks valid in Estonia and Community trademarks, also data of the emblems, official control and warranty signs and names of international intergovernmental organizations under protection in compliance with Article 6ter of Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. In cooperation with the European Patent Organization there is a direct connection (Patnet2) that enables the examiners to use the databases of EPO in their work.
Several e-services are available at our homepage. The portal of electronic filing of trademarks has been accessible since April 2007, in 2008 software for the electronic filing of patent, utility model and industrial design applications was added, as well as software for filing the Estonian-language patent specifications of the European patents validated in Estonia. So digitally signed applications can be filed without coming to the Office. The portal is available at the address online.epa.ee. In addition, the services of the databases of electronic searches have been available on the web page of the Estonian Patent Office (www.epa.ee) for a long time. Starting from 25 October 2010 it has been possible to look at the Estonian trademark applications on the international trademark search portal TMView (www.tmview.europa.eu).
External databases
There is also possibility to use CTM-online via web page of the Estonian Patent Office.
Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), carriers used
The information system of processing at the Patent Office consists of six registers (register of trade and service marks, register of patents, register of geographical indications, register of European patents valid in Estonia, register of utility models, register of industrial designs),
for the administration of which application software Common Software, database software Informix and operation system UNIX are used. The information system of processing is connected with the portal of electronic filing of applications for legal protection of industrial property via which the received applications are imported by the interface to the databases and from there the data to be published from the registers are sent to separately located search databases.
To facilitate trademark examination procedure the software ACSEPTO of figurative and verbal searches is in use. It contains the data of Community trademarks and trademarks valid in Estonia, also data of the emblems, official control and warranty signs as well as the names of international intergovernmental organisations under protection in compliance with Article 6ter of Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. In cooperation with the European Patent Organisation there is a direct connection (Patnet2) enabling the examiners to use the databases of EPO in their work.
VI. Administration of trademark information products and services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, registering trademarks, assisting clients with search procedures, obtaining official publications and registry extracts)
Estonian Patent Information Centre is an independent centre financed from the state budget. The Estonian Information Centre provides services to the general public. As the centre works in close cooperation with the Estonian Patent Office its main task is to serve the examining and professional staff of the Estonian Patent Office. The Information Centre acquires, processes and maintains patent documents, patent gazettes and other patent and non-patent literature. The older part of the collections is on paper, microfilm or microfiche. Now the majority of patent documents are on CD/DVD-ROMs. The library collections are acquired by purchases (the financial resources for it are allocated from the state budget) and by exchange of publications with other industrial property offices under international agreements.
The Estonian Patent Information Centre is the only library that collects and processes patent literature in Estonia. Information Centre participates in the interlibrary lending at the national or the international level. Lending requests are satisfied by e-mail, ordinary mail or by fax.
The patent and trademark gazettes as well as reference literature are kept in the public reading rooms; other materials, i.e. patent documents, are stored in the stock-rooms and are lend at the request of the users. The library also stores the collection of the official gazettes and specifications of the Estonian Patent Office.
The users can carry out searches using CD/DVD-ROMs at 9 workstations.
The following CD/DVD-ROM collections are available:
ESPACE ACCESS A and B
ESPACE-ACCESS-EPC
ESPACE FIRST
ESPACE BULLETIN
ESPACE LEGAL
ESPACE EP
ESPACE WORLD
ESPACE AT
ESPACE CH
ESPACE DK (1990-1998)
ESPACE FI
ESPACE FR A
ESPACE UK
German databases:
DEPAROM KOMPAKT
DEPAROM ACT
DEPAROM U
US databases:
US Patents BIB
US Patents Class
US Patents Assist
US Patents & TM Assign
USA App
USA Pat
Other countries:
PAJ Patent Abstracts of Japan
PAJ/INDEX
Patents of Russia (Full specifications)
ESPACE-ACCESS-RFD
Utility models of Russia (1994-2004, first pages)
The inventions protected in the Republic of Moldova (1993-2007)
CNPATE-ACCESS
China Patent Applications
The Information Centre has the direct Internet access to the INPADOC databases through Open Patent Services interface. In-house online access is established to the commercial databases Derwent Innovations Index and Questel-Orbit via the Internet connection. These databases are charged on the bases of annual fees, Questel-Orbit is also charged on the bases of usage.
The Information Centre offers copying services from paper or microforms . The users can order printouts of the documents on CD/DVD-ROMs. These services are offered for a moderate price. Information Centre also offers more advanced services – patent information researches. User can claim for an advanced research in his favourite technical field, results will be printed and analysed and added to research report dossier.
Other services are free of charge: in the reading rooms the readers can use reference materials, monographs, other books and periodicals and carry out searches in trademark documents on paper.
URLs of web pages of the Office's website for electronic filing of trademark applications
https://online.epa.ee/
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide information on business procedures such as: filing, publication, examination and registration procedures related to trademarks; opposition and appeal procedures related to trademarks; etc.
http://www.epa.ee/client/default.asp?wa_id=395&wa_object_id=1&wa_id_key=
(only in Estonian)
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide a description of information products and services offered by the Office (e.g., trademark search service(s) and trademark databases), as well as information on how to access and utilize them
http://www.epa.ee/client/default.asp?wa_id=916&wa_object_id=1&wa_id_key=
VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of trademark documentation and information
International or regional cooperation in the exchange of trademark information, e.g., in the form of official gazettes
The Estonian Patent Information Centre has agreements with 20 patent offices and 1 organization on exchange of official gazettes.
Exchange of machine-readable information
Participation in TM-View project.
VIII. Matters concerning education and training, including technical assistance to developing countries (please indicate URLs of web pages of the Office’s website wherever appropriate)
Promotional activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.)
2011 was the sixth year of operation for the Small-sized Enterprise Support Division. The main goal of the Division is to arrange events for entrepreneurs and the public in order to rise the awareness about the legal protection of intellectual property as well as to ensure that the Estonian Patent Office attends events (lectures, presentations etc.) introducing intellectual property arranged by other institutions.
The year brought along several changes. There was much work as well as success. Many activities undertaken in the previous years continued.
In 2011 the seminars held in the classroom of the Patent Office played an essential role. Namely the Division arranged 7 seminars in the classroom (2 seminars on the legal protection of inventions, 2 on registration of trademarks, 1 on protection of industrial designs and 2 on protection of both the trademarks and industrial designs). Demand for such seminars is very high.
In 2011 the Small-sized Enterprise Support Division of the Patent Office did cooperation with the development centres of the counties. This cooperation is of important to support the regional development of Estonia and the main aim is to raise the awareness about industrial property in the whole republic. This year the Division arranged an info day on intellectual property in Põlva. Besides the lecturers of the Patent Office also a patent attorney gave a presentation on the services provided by the patent agencies and Põlvamaa Development Centre shared its experience in registration of a trademark.
In addition, cooperation with other institutions is still important for the Small-sized Enterprise Support Division. So the examiners of the Patent Office gave presentations on inventions and trademarks for the second year student of economy at Pärnu College. The total number of students, who attended the lectures, was 73.
From 3-9 October 2011 an Entrepreneurship Week took place all over Estonia. Its aim was to raise the awareness of the society on entrepreneurship and to increase the knowledge of the entrepreneurs. In the framework of the Entrepreneurship Week a seminar "Which Benefits Does the Legal Protection of Intellectual Property Provide?" was arranged by the Patent Office in cooperation with the Entrepreneurship Department of Tartu City Government in Tartu on 5 October. Besides the presentations made by lecturers from the Patent Office experience on protection of inventions was shared by a local entrepreneur from Leidi Consult Ltd.. By the was the Patent Office was invited to the seminar at Võrumaa Entrepreneurship Week on 5 October, where our examiners disseminated their knowledge on protection of inventions and registration of trademarks. Cooperation with Tallinn City Enterprise continued successfully as well. On 5-6 October there was a subsequent Tallinn Entrepreneurship Day, where the Patent Office participated. On both days the Patent Office was there with an info desk providing consultations, information and publications on intellectual property. The Patent Office arranged also a seminar "Industrial Property and Entrepreneurship Culture" in the framework of Tallinn Entrepreneurship Day.
Traditionally the Small-sized Enterprise Support Division arranged two big seminars for SME-s in Tallinn: in April a seminar "Intellectual Property in SME-s" celebrating the World Intellectual Property Day and in October a seminar "Possibilities of Legal Protection of Industrial Property in the European Union".
Training courses for national and foreign participants
http://www.epa.ee/client/default.asp?wa_id=888&wa_object_id=1&wa_id_key=
IX. Other general information related to the Office that is available on the Internet -- URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that:
provide information on legislation related to trademarks
http://www.epa.ee/client/default.asp?wa_id=456&wa_object_id=1&wa_id_key= (mainly in Estonian)
contain the Annual Report of the Office
http://www.epa.ee/client/default.asp?wa_id=922&wa_object_id=1&wa_id_key=
contain trademark-related news regarding the Office
http://www.epa.ee/rss.asp?wa_site_id=2
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Patendiameti-v%C3%A4ikeettev%C3%B5tjate-n%C3%B5ustamise-talitus/164189253667156
X. Other relevant matters