MIKHAILYUK, SOROKOLAT & PARTNERS offers the full range of legal services related to utility model registration in Estonia including patent search, translation of an application, filing and further prosecution of the Estonian utility model application, patent maintenance, preparing and recordal of assignment and license agreements as well as representing clients before courts. We do our best to represent our clients' interests in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.
The term of protection of a Utility Model in Estonia is 10 years from the filing date, i.e. 4 basic years extendible for 4-year term and thereafter for another 2-year term.
Novelty grace period 12 months from disclosure of the information on utility model before filing the application or priority date thereof, if priority is claimed.
According to the Estonian legislation, the same inventions which are protected by patents, except for inventions which belongs to the field of biotechnology, can be protected as utility models, namely the subject of a utility model may be a device, process, material or a combination thereof. However, the utility model registration application may comprise only one invention, i.e. have one independent claim.
Overview of the Utility Model registration procedure in Estonia:
After completion of filing procedure the Estonian utility model application undergoes formal examination. The stage of the substantive examination is absent for the utility model in Estonia. The Examination Board examines only formal requirements, the fact that the utility model complies with the subject matter protected as utility models and carries out a state of art search. After completion of the search report the applicant may amend the application on the basis of the report within 2 months from the issue of the search report. However, the search is only of informative importance and amendments are not compulsory. If the application complies with the formal requirements, the Grant Decision is issued and the patent as well as the search report are published. The procedure of utility model registration takes about 2 years.
The procedure of the utility model registration in Estonia takes about 2 years.
Foreign applicants must be represented before the Office by a registered Estonian patent attorney.
For filing a utility model application in Estonia we need:
- your filing instructions with applicant's and inventor's names, addresses and citizenships;
- filing number and date of priority application or PCT application;
- specification with claims, abstract and drawings;
- Power of Attorney simply signed and stamped by the applicant(s), legalization and notarization are not required (may be provided to the Estonian Patent Office within 2 months from filing the application);
- for conventional applications - Certified copy of the priority document, if priority is claimed (may be provided to the Estonian Patent Office within 16 months from the priority date).
The term for filing a utility model application claiming priority in Estonia is 12 months from the priority date. The term for entering the Estonian national phase of a PCT application as utility model is 31 months from the priority date.
For more information about registration of the utility model in Estonia or quotation for filing and prosecution of the Estonian utility model application please contact us.
