Annual Technical Report on Patent Information Activities in 2020 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
In 2020, 23 patent applications, 43 utility models applications and 44 applications for supplementary protection of medicinal products and plant protection products were filed (see statistics). Estonian applicants filed 21 patent applications and 37 utility model applications. Estonian applicants filed 2 international patent application for forwarding to WIPO. The Patent Office made 75 examination decisions (including 36 for supplementary protection of medicinal products and plant protection products) on patent applications and granted 12 patents. 59 examination decisions on utility model registration applications were made and 44 utility models were registered. The Office made 36 decisions on applications for supplementary protection of medicinal products and plant protection products, and 22 supplementary protection certificates were granted.
New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
https://aastaraamat.epa.ee/en/yearbook-2020/inventions
Main areas of patent information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year
https://aastaraamat.epa.ee/en/yearbook-2020/inventions
Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and grants with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
https://www.epa.ee/en/statistics/statistics-2020
Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
https://aastaraamat.epa.ee/en/yearbook-2020/inventions
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
https://www.epa.ee/et/seminarid
Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
https://www.epa.ee/et/leiutised-patendid-kasulikud-mudelid/leiutise-patenditaotluse-naide
https://www.epa.ee/en/protection-inventions/what-invention
Classification1, preclassification2 (if applicable), reclassification3 activities; classification systems used (e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC)); matters concerning indexing of patent information
https://www.epa.ee/et/leiutised-patendid-kasulikud-mudelid/juhendid
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)
https://www.epa.ee/en/patent-information-and-services/patent-information
Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URL), etc.
The Estonian Patent Gazette is a periodical official gazette of the Estonian Patent Office. It was published 6 times a year from December 1995 until November 2014. Since December 2014 it is published 12 times a year only digitally (in PDF format).
https://www.epa.ee/en/official-gazettes/estonian-patent-gazette
Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external collections and databases
https://www.epa.ee/en/databases/inventions-databases
Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) 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
The Estonian Patent Office transmits data on industrial property objects in Estonia to the following international databases.
Espacenet – a global patent database
Federated European Patent Register – European patent database
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
https://aastaraamat.epa.ee/en/annual-report-2020/information-system
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
https://www.epa.ee/en/patent-information-and-services/patent-searches
Publications related to different business procedures and patent information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
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.
Work has continued with the patent offices and universities of the Baltic States to establish a regional knowledge transfer network and steps have been taken to strengthen cooperation between the Patent Office and Estonian universities. https://aastaraamat.epa.ee/en/annual-report-2020/information-events
Education and training: training courses, e-learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
https://aastaraamat.epa.ee/en/annual-report-2020/information-events
https://www.epa.ee/et/seminarid
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
https://aastaraamat.epa.ee/en/yearbook-2020/international-cooperation
Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to patent information
Assistance to developing countries
Other activities
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.