Establishment
- established on 23 May 1919
- discontinued operations in 1940
- re-established on 3 December 1991
- re-commenced operation on 10 March 1992
Status
The Estonian Patent Office is a government agency that operates in the area of government of the Ministry of Justice
Tasks in the field of industrial property rights
- exercises executive power in the field of industrial property protection
- accepts and processes applications for the registration of industrial property objects
- examines patent applications, including as to novelty and state of art
- examines trade mark applications and international registrations of trade marks on both absolute and relative grounds
- maintains industrial property registers that have been granted the status of a general national register
- maintains databases of national processing of international registrations
- issues protection documents in the name of the state
- publishes official gazettes
- participates in legislative drafting in the field of industrial property protection
- participates in international cooperation in the field of industrial property protection
- participates in the work of the European Patent Office and the European Union Intellectual Property Office at working out of the industrial property strategies and development plans
Tasks in the field of copyright
- mediator of information on the status of orphan works in Estonia
- national supervision of the activities of collective management organisations
- organizing the work of the Copyright Committee