Patent registration in Estonia

Brief summary of the patent application process

A patent application is filed with the Estonian Patent Office. A patent application shall contain the following fundamental documents: a request for the grant of a patent; a description of the invention; a patent claim; drawings or other illustrative material, if required; an abstract of the subject matter of the invention.

Upon receipt of a patent application, the Estonian Patent Office shall examine the compliance of an application with the minimum requirements for applications. The Patent Office shall publish a patent application. After the publication the Patent Office shall commence the substantive examination of the application.

During the substantive examination of the application, the Patent Office shall assess novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability of the invention.

If the Estonian Patent Office finds that the invention complies with the requirements of novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability, the Patent Office shall make a decision to issue a patent. The Patent Office shall publish a notice of the issue of a patent in the Estonian Patent Gazette. As of the publication date of the notice, the patent applicant shall become the proprietor of a patent who has exclusive right to use the invention.

Detailed search and examination before grant?

Yes

What are the minimum documentation requirements?

Does not follow the WIPO minimum documentation requirements for patents or non-patents but uses something "similar".

Use the WIPO's IPC?

Yes

Other classification systems used?

No, examiners know and use other classification schemes.

How is a search recorded?

Only paper, similar for WIPO and EPO search reports.

How is a search communicated?

By post.

Follow requirements of EPC?

Yes- sometimes practically difficult to achieve.

Patentability requirements/details:

Novelty

Inventive Step

Industrial Application

Added Matter

Sufficiency

Exclusion from Patentability

Other- The following, inter alia, are not regarded as the subject of inventions: discoveries, including descriptions of the formation or development of the human body or sequence or partial sequence of human gene, scientific theories and mathematical methods; schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts or doing business; design documentation for and plans of constructions, buildings or areas; symbols; algorithms for computers and computer programs; designs; presentations of information; plant and animal varieties; layout-designs of integrated circuits

List of exclusions to patentability

Inventions which are contrary to public order and morality;

methods of treatment and diagnostic methods practised for treatment or diagnosis of diseases of humans or animals;

processes for cloning human beings;

processes for modifying the germ line genetic identity of human beings;

uses of human embryos for commercial purposes, including processes prohibited by the Artificial Insemination and Embryo Protection Act;

processes for modifying the genetic identity of animals which are likely to cause them suffering without any substantial benefit to health protection of humans or animals, and animals resulting from such processes;

essentially biological processes for the derivation of biological materials, plants or animals, except microbiological processes for the derivation of micro-organisms;

inventions the application of which is confined to a single plant or animal variety.

Does the Patent Office carry out detailed examination against the patentability criteria before grant?

Yes

Brief summary of the patent examination process?

During the substantive examination of the application, the Patent Office shall assess novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability of the invention.