On 1 April, the Estonian Patent Office took over some of the functions of the Ministry of Justice in the field of copyright and related rights.
These functions are
- The role of the mediator of information on the status of an orphan work in Estonia, i.e. to act as a competent authority within the meaning of Article 3 (5) of Directive 2012/28/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council
The competent authority essentially has two tasks. Upon receipt of information on a work declared to be an orphan work from a public memory institution or the Estonian Public Broadcasting Authority, the competent authority will transmit this information to the database of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). However, if the ownership of a work or phonogram declared orphan is subsequently confirmed, the competent authority will transmit that information to the database of orphan works maintained by EUIPO.
Estonia registered 25 orphan works to the EUIPO’s orphan works database in 2022.
- Exercising state supervision over the activities of collective management organisations (hereinafter also CMO), ensuring compliance with the requirements provided for in Chapter 9 of the Copyright Act (CA).
Chapter IX of the Copyright Act regulates the collective exercise of rights and Section 3 of the Chapter provides for state supervision over the activities of CMOs. Chapter IX of the Copyright Act also prescribes requirements for CMOs and their activities.
Among other things, the use and distribution of revenue from the exercise of regulated rights to rightholders, the terms and conditions for entering into a contract with users (incl. setting reasonable tariffs) and providing information from CMO on the exercise of these rights to users and the general public (incl. submission of transparency report, disclosure of information on website) are regulated. Most of the requirements subject to state supervision derive from Directive 2014/26/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council.
The Office monitored the mandatory disclosure of information on CMOs (Estonian Authors’ Society, Estonian Performers Association, Estonian Association of Audiovisual Authors, Estonian Association of the Phonogram Producers) websites in October and November of 2022.
The following was checked to see if the CMOs disclosed and maintained the relevance of the information provided in § 7915 of the CA:
1) its statutes and the documents approved on the basis of the statutes, including the information deriving from subsection 1 of § 791 and subsections 1 and 2 of § 792 of CA;
2) the standard licence agreements and standard applicable tariffs, including disclounts;
3) the management board members;
4) the general policy on distribution of amounts due to rightholders;
5) the general policy on determination of management fees;
6) the general policy on deductions, other than in respect of management fees, from rights revenue or from any income arising from the investment of rights revenue;
7) a list of the representation agreements it has entered into, and the names of the collective management organisations with which those representation agreements have been concluded;
8) the general policy on the use of non-distributable amounts;
9) the complaint submission and dispute resolution procedures available as specified in subsections 2–4 of § 871 of CA and other Acts;
10) the transparency report prepared on the basis of subsection 1 of § 7916 of CA and approved by the general assembly.
There were no issues with the disclosure of information.
- Organizing the work of the Copyright Committee
The Copyright Committee was established at the Estonian Patent Office on April 1, 2021. The committee is a conciliation body within the meaning of § 19 of the Conciliation Act and performs the functions listed in § 87 (1) of the Copyright Act, including resolving disputes related to copyright and related rights at the request of disputing parties by conciliation.
The Copyright Committee received no applications in 2022.
Acts
1992 The Constitution of the Republic of Estonia
1992 Trade Marks Act
1992 Copyright Act
1994 Patent Act
1994 Utility Model Act
1997 Industrial Design Protection Act
1998 Act on the Protection of Layout Designs of Integrated Circuits
1999 Geographical Indication Protection Act
2002 Penal Code
2002 Act on implementing the Convention on the Grant of European Patents
2002 Customs Code (unlawful carriage of goods over the customs frontier)
2004 Customs Act
2004 Principles of Legal Regulation of Industrial Property Act
Accession of the Republic of Estonia to multilateral international treaties in the field of industrial property, which are administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization
| Treaty | Estonia acceded |
|---|---|
| Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (1883) | 12 February 1924 |
| Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (Stockholm Act, 1967) Remark. The Republic of Estonia acceded the Paris Convention (Washington Act, 1911) with effect from 12 February 1924. Estonia lost its independence on August 6, 1940 and regained it on August 20, 1991. Source: WIPO publication No 423 of 5 November 1998. |
24 August 1994 (re-acceded) |
| The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (1886) | 9 June 1927 |
| The Paris redaction for The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works on 24 July 1971 (amended on September 28, 1979). Remark. The Republic of Estonia acceded to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works in 1927 (Berlin Act of 1908). Estonia lost its independence on August 6, 1940, and regained it on August 20, 1991. Source: WIPO Lex database |
26 October 1994 (re-acceded) |
| Convention on Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (Stockholm, 1967) | 5 February 1994 |
| Patent Cooperation Treaty (Washington, 1970) | 24 August 1994 |
| Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of Registration of Marks (1957) | 27 May 1996 |
| Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Microorganisms for the purpose of Patent Procedure (1977) | 14 September 1996 |
| Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs (1968) | 31 October 1996 |
| Strasbourg Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification (1971) | 27 February 1997 |
| WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT, 1996) | Entered into force on 2010 |
| Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (1989) | 18 November 1998 |
| Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations | 28 April 2000 |
| Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms | 28 May 2000 |
| International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants | 24 September 2000 |
| Trademark Law Treaty (1994) | 7 January 2003 |
| Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Design (1999) | 23 December 2003 |
| Patent Law Treaty (2000) | 28 April 2005 |
| Nairobi Treaty on the Protection of the Olympic Symbol | 30 June 2006 |
| Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks (2006) | 14 August 2009 |
| WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT, 1996) | 14 March 2010 |
