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

Please provide links to your website where the requested information can be found in English, French, or Spanish.  Alternately, you may provide text responses instead of URLs if desired.  If the information is not available on your website in an ATR language, then please provide text.

URLs in responses should meet the following requirements:

  • Link to pages with information in English, Spanish, or French
  • The URL will remain stable over time (at least three years, preferably more)
  • Goes to the specific information requested, not to a general homepage
  • If the URL goes to a long PDF document such as an annual report, please indicate which sections or pages contain relevant information.
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I. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN PATENT 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 patent information activities and expected time frames for their realization
  2. New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
  3. Main areas of patent 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 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.

Inventions can be protected as patents or utility models on the grounds of the Patent Act and the Utility Model Act, which entered into force on 23 May 1994.

In 2021, 26 patent applications (23 in 2020), 51 utility models applications and (43 in 2020) 41 applications for supplementary protection of medicinal products and plant protection products (44 in 2020) were filed (see statistics). Estonian applicants filed 24 patent applications and 36 utility model applications. Estonian applicants filed 3 international patent application for forwarding to WIPO (2 in 2020). The Estonian Patent Office made 64 examination decisions (including 44 for supplementary protection of medicinal products and plant protection products) on patent applications (75 and 36 in 2020) and granted 8 patents (12 in 2020). 42 examination decisions on utility model registration applications were made and 31 utility models were registered. The office made 44 decisions on applications for supplementary protection of medicinal products and plant protection products, and 35 supplementary protection certificates were grante (36 and 22 in 2020).

By 31 December 2021, the number of pending applications was 55 patent and 67 utility model registration applications and 93 applications for supplementary protection of medicinal products and plant protection products.

Due to the fact that Estonia became a full member of the EPO in 2002, the number of filed patent applications has decreased year by year. As in 2003 the number of applications was ~15% less than in 2001 and 2002, in 2018–2021 it was already ~95% less. Another reason why the number of filed applications is smaller is that applicants no longer file the first application with the Estonian Patent Office, but directly with the EPO or a patent office of another country.

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

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

News: https://www.epa.ee/en/search/type/news

General info: https://www.epa.ee/en/patents-utility-models/patent/what-patent

II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO PATENT 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. Classification1, preclassification2 (if applicable), reclassification3 activities; classification systems used (e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC)); matters concerning indexing of patent information
  4. Abstracting, reviewing, and translation of the information contained in patent documents
  5. Other activities

https://www.epa.ee/en/patents-utility-models/patent/preparation-application

https://www.epa.ee/en/patents-utility-models/patent/types-patent-applications-and-forms

https://www.epa.ee/en/patents-utility-models/additional-info/instructions-and-brochures

Classification system: IPC

III. SOURCES OF PATENT INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE

Information on the following topics is desired:

  1. 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)
  2. Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URL), etc.
  3. Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external collections and databases
  4. Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) 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

Database of the Estonian Patent Applications and Patents

https://www1.epa.ee/patent/default2eng.asp 

The Database contains the data of the Estonian national patent applications filed with the Estonian Patent Office since entering into force of the Patents Act on 23 May 1994  and the data of the international patent applications entered intothe national phase in Estonia after accession of the Republic of Estonia to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) on 24 August 1994 as well as the data of the patents granted on the basis of the Patents Act and the PCT. 

The data in the Database concerns only the patent applications published by the Estonian Patent Office pursuant to/in accordance with the Patents Act. The database does not contain the data concerning  the patent applications withdrawn, considered withdrawn or rejected before the publication and it is not allowed to see this data  in the Estonian Patent Office either.

The Database contains the basic bibliographical data of the patent application, the title of the invention and the abstract of the subject matter of the invention both in Estonian and English as well as an original drawing if it exists.The title of the invention both in Estonian and English and the abstract enable to perform a word search. The Database contains also the data concerning the legal status of the patent application or the patent and enables to check the payment of the fees for the year of validity. The database does not contain supplementary protection data, which you can consult in the "Supplementary protection applications for medicinal products and plant protection products" section.

The search is free of charge. 

Processing of the patent applications and the granted patents can be followed via the notifications published in the Estonian Patent Gazette and the processing procedure and the dossiers in the Estonian Patent Office. 

The Estonian Patent Gazette

The Estonian Patent Gazette (Eesti Patendileht) 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). 

The patent applications, the issued Estonian and European patents, amendments to the register, decisions on the supplementary protection for medicinal products and plant protection products  as well as legal acts on industrial property protection, including the original texts and translations of laws and international agreements are published In the Estonian Patent Gazette.

https://www.epa.ee/en/patents-utility-models/registered-patents/estonian-patent-gazette

https://www.epa.ee/en/patents-utility-models/search-databases/patent-information

IV. ICT SUPPORT TO SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO PATENT 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

Internal software: Common Software

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

Information on the following topics is desired:

  1. Patent library: equipment, collection management, network of patent libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign patent libraries
  2. Publications related to different business procedures and patent information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
  3. Office's initiatives on providing foreign patent information in the local language(s) (e.g., machine translation tools, translation of abstracts)
  4. Cooperation with universities, research centers, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
  5. Education and training: training courses, e-learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
  6. Other activities

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

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

VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF PATENT INFORMATION

Information on the following topics is desired:

  1. International exchange and sharing of patent information in machine-readable form, e.g., priority documents, bibliographic data, abstracts, search reports, full text information
  2. Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to patent information
  3. Assistance to developing countries
  4. Other activities

International exchange and sharing of patent information in machine-readable form: Espacenet, PATENTSCOPE

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

VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS

Please include any other relevant information here.




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.