In Estonia, protection of industrial designs can be applied for on the grounds of the Industrial Design Protection Act that entered into force on 11 January 1998. As of 1 May 2004, legal acts regulating the legal protection of Community designs are also applicable in Estonia, including Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 of 12 December 2001, which governs the protection of Community designs. Under this Regulation, all industrial designs disclosed on the territory of the European Union automatically have three (3) years of protection against copying, in addition to the usual option of registration.
Estonia acceded to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs on 23 December 2003. As of 1 April 2004, the Common Regulations for the implementation of the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs are in force. In order to protect an industrial design via the Hague system, an application in English or French must be filed with the International Bureau of WIPO in Geneva, designating the countries where protection is sought.
In Estonia, industrial designs are registered by a request or registration system, which means that the Estonian Patent Office does not examine the novelty, individual character or industrial application thereof, or the right of a person to file a registration application.
In 2025, the Estonian Patent Office received 17 industrial design applications, which is slightly fewer than last year, in 2024 (20 applications), and the same as in 2023. Only one applicant was from outside Estonia – from Switzerland.
The number of applications filed directly with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) is showing a growing trend. It is pleasing to note that applicants of Estonian origin filed 242 applications to the EUIPO in 2025, which is significantly more than in previous years (198 applications in 2024, 172 in 2023, and 162 in 2022). One of the reasons for this may be the increase in awareness among companies regarding the SME Fund. The SME Fund is a joint initiative of the European Commission and EUIPO, which offers financial support to Estonian companies, among others, for the protection of their intellectual property.
In 2025, the total number of applications was 259 (218 in 2024, and 189 in 2023). We hope that the increase in the number of applications will continue on the same course and that with an increasingly aware entrepreneurship community, the growth trend will continue in the coming years.
The number of applications for international registration of industrial designs filed under the Hague Agreement also showed growth in 2025 – Estonia was mentioned 29 times (22 times in 2024), but this remains far from the record set in 2017, when protection was requested in Estonia on 88 occasions. The most registrations were filed from the United States (10, i.e. approximately 34%) and Switzerland (4, approximately 14%) as the country of origin. Estonian applicants did not submit any applications through this system in 2025. Protection was requested most often (on 7 occasions) for recording, communication and data processing equipment, followed (on 5 occasions) by building components and details.
By the end of 2025, 3 national applications and 16 international registrations remained pending. As at 31 December 2025, there were 271 valid industrial design registrations in the Estonian industrial design register (271 valid registrations in 2024) and 413 international industrial registrations that have been granted legal protection in Estonia (451 valid registrations in 2024). The fluctuation in the number of registrations can be attributed to the limited duration of design protection which may be renewed for a maximum of 25 years, as well as to the fact that many rights holders choose not to renew protection after the first or second five-year protection period.
Those who wish to know more about which industrial designs have been registered in Estonia and which ones are valid and which not, can use the industrial design database found on the website of the Estonian Patent Office.
Industrial designs are protected significantly less frequently than, for example, trade marks. This is likely due in part to the lack of knowledge of potential applicants in the field, which the Estonian Patent Office, in cooperation with partners, is trying to gradually improve through webinars, social media, and other measures. It is a pleasure to note that we are moving – albeit in small steps at first, but at an ever-increasing pace – towards one of our goals, which is to raise awareness among young people. We wish to reach a situation where, for young people, the existence of intellectual property, the concepts (what exactly is intellectual property ) and the possibility and necessity of protecting it are a matter of course. In this way, young people will grow into informed entrepreneurs. We have visited several schools to talk about intellectual property, including designs, taking the age of the pupils into account. We have also trained mentors for student companies. On a positive note, interest in industrial design protection is greater than the numbers might indicate – there are more of those asking for advice by phone or email, although we would be happy if their number was even higher.
On 8 December 2024, Directive 2024/2823 of the European Parliament and of the Council entered into force, replacing the first Design Directive, which was adopted more than 20 years ago. On the same date, the new Design Regulation No 2024/2822, updating the design regulation at European Union level, also entered into force. Member States have been granted up to 36 months from the date of entry into force of the piece of legislation to implement the directive, i.e. the national law must be brought into line with the Directive by 9 December 2027, at the latest. The Design Regulation entered into force on 8 December 2024 and the legislation will become applicable in two phases. Article 3 of the Annex I to the Design Regulation provides that the first phase of the of amendments will come into effect from 1 May 2025. The norms, which require supplementation and specification by means of implementing and delegated acts, will come into effect from 1 July 2026.
The Design Directive and Regulation modernise and expand the definitions of design and product, allowing for the protection of virtual creations as an innovation and simplifying the legal protection procedure for designs, as well as the requirements for submitting an application. In Estonia, following the transposition of the Directive, it will become possible to submit multiple applications, which allow for the protection of multiple designs with a single application. A so-called ‘repair clause’ will also be implemented, which simplifies the production and distribution of spare parts. The possibilities for protecting the rights of proprietors have been enhanced.
Therefore, the coming years promise to be full of changes in the field of design, and we hope that, with the support of those changes, more and more companies will be able to protect their industrial designs.
Liina Puu also contributed to the preparation of this article.
