All over the world intellectual property is guaranteed as a social function. Among many of its functions, intellectual property is a guarantee of appropriation of intellectual creations and distinctive signs that make up people’s patrimony, as intangible assets, being a disciplining regime of conduct in the market, aiming at fair competition between economic entities.
Intellectual property is the production of inventive capacity of the human intellect, whether industrial, scientific, literary or artistic, it guarantees legal protection and recognition of authorship of intellectual production work such as inventions, patents, trademarks, industrial designs, geographical indications and artistic creations and guarantees the owner the right, for a certain period, to economically exploit and have exclusivity over it.
In this article we will emphasize trademark registration, and what is a trademark? A trademark is a sign capable of distinguishing the products or services of a company, mainly, in relation to other competitors, so its main function is to facilitate the identification, by the consumer, of a product or service made available by a certain company, for that thus differentiates itself from other identical or similar products or services, mainly from competitors.
How does the registration of a trademark happen in Estonia
To obtain legal protection in Estonia, an application for the registration of a trademark in Estonian must be submitted to the Estonian Patent Office. The application can be submitted online using the electronic services of the Estonian Patent Office, or through a legal representative.
The cost of trademark registration depends on the number of classes of products and services you want to protect. When submitting the application, the state fee for the first class of goods or services is 145 euros. Trademark applications are examined in the order they arrive at the Patent Office, so the time required for examination depends on the number of applications and the length of the resulting examination queue.
However, according to the Patent Office’s website, registration applications that were submitted in July 2022 were analysed and/or granted in September 2022, with an average of 3 months. The validity period of the trademark registration is 10 years from the date of application, it can be renewed upon payment of a fee for 10 years. You have to monitor your trademark’s legal protection term and you can apply for the term to be renewed.
But what makes intellectual property different in Estonia? A very interesting thing that happens in Estonia, with regard to the incentives that are offered to the entrepreneur who wants to protect his brand, or needs support with regard to intellectual property, several support measures have been created for start-ups and established companies.
These measures are:
- Offer of a support fund destined to be applied in the registration of trademarks and industrial designs;
- Online development aimed at beginner entrepreneurs;
- Support the production of the first prototype, initial product tests, as well as intellectual property research and intellectual property registration;
- Financing the prototyping of intelligent and innovative ideas.
On this website it is possible to find the support that best fits your profile.
In addition, here you can find some free tools that help increase your awareness of intellectual property.
Want to know more about opening a business in Estonia? Incorporate is ready to help you enter the European market and expand your business. Schedule a consultation with us, our consultants are ready to help you!
