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The average time frame for the registration approval is 18 months, if no objections or oppositions arise.
No. The registered mark is not protected in other countries. The protection is limited only to Estonia.
Yes. The trademark office of Estonia requires applicants to submit a power of attorney.
Yes. Pre-filing use lets the applicant exhibit the mark’s acquired distinctiveness and dismiss oppositions based on non-distinctiveness.
Yes. Non-use of a registered mark is a ground for cancellation.
Any mark that can be recreated graphically and can tell apart a product or service from others are acceptable for registration:
- Words
- Devices
- Names
- Trade dress
- Slogans
- Sounds
- Shapes (having 3 dimensions)
- Colours
- Retail services
- Service marks
- Certification marks
The sequence of application steps in Estonia is as follows:
-
Examination – The trademark authorities will examine the application based on these elements:
- Bad faith
- Conflict with an earlier registration
- Deceptiveness
- Classification
- Formality
- Descriptiveness
- Distinctiveness
- Conflict with an earlier registered business name
- Conflict with an earlier registered pharmaceutical product
- Conflict with rule against marks that are exclusively derived from the product’s shape
-
Publication – The application details are made accessible to third parties via print and online publication.
- Name and address of applicant
- Number and date of application
- Good or services
- Information about priority claim
- Trademark representation
- Colours
- Registration – The registration will be issued once the opposition period is over; either there are no challengers or the applicant overcame all challenges.
The following marks are not acceptable for registration:
- Marks that are at odds with moral principles and/or public order
- Generic words/terms
- Flags, symbols and names of international organizations, states, regions and nations
- Marks that are lacking in acquired distinctiveness
- Names of geographic locations but not appellations of origin
- Marks that deceive the consumers as to the product’s quality, intended purpose, etc.
Yes. The Nice Classification system is applicable in this jurisdiction.
Yes. Estonia is a member of the European Union which makes the Community Trademark registration effective in this territory.
Yes. The applicant’s home filing date can be used as the filing date in Estonia if:
- The applicant’s home country is a party to the Paris Convention
- The home filing date is within 6 months preceding the date of filing in Estonia
- International registration can be based in Estonia
The mark must be used within 5 years from its registration date. The owner’s right will be revoked if the mark was not used within 5 consecutive years. Commercial use is mandated and it must occur in the territory of Estonia.
The trademark will be valid for 10 years beginning on the registration date.
The first renewal will happen 10 years from the date when the registration was granted.
Yes. An unregistered mark can be legally used for goods and services.
Legal protection and ownership rights to a trademark are obtained only through registration.
Estonia’s national trademark office is accessible online at: http://www.epa.ee/en
Applicants are not mandated by Estonia’s trademark law to use the mark before filing of application.
The application can be challenged on these grounds:
- Breach of copyright
- Proprietary rights
- Bad faith
- Moral principles and public policy
- Generic marks/words
- Rights of well-known marks
- Rights in a registered design
- Rights in a company/business name
- Rights in a proprietary pharmaceutical or medicinal product
- Rights in a personal name
- Use of a geographical indication
- Prohibited marks based on international treaties
- Rights in a fixed architectural structure or rights in an industrial property
- Registration under agent’s name or other representative
- Use of protected state emblems, flags or armorial bearings
- Functional, descriptive, non-distinctive, disparaging, misleading or deceptive marks
Any interested person or party can oppose the registration. Owners of an earlier registered mark may also initiate an opposition.
Yes. A registered mark may be cancelled on the following reasons:
- Rights in a personal name, registered design, company name, pharmaceutical/medicinal product, fixed architectural site, or industrial property
- Bad faith
- Geographical indication
- Incapable of being reproduced graphically
- Conflict with moral principles and public order
- Generic mark
- Registration under name of agent or representative
- Used of protected emblems of states, flags or armorial bearings
- Proprietary rights
- Descriptive mark
- Non-distinctive mark
- Misleading/disparaging/deceptive mark
- Functional mark
Yes. Owners of the registered mark are secured of the following rights:
- Exclusive right to use the mark
- Right to object to conflicting applications filed on a later date
- Right to petition for the cancellation of conflicting registrations
- Right to sue third parties for infringement
- Right to obtain damages from third parties for infringement
- Right to give authorization to third parties to use the mark
- Right to demand for the confiscation of fake goods bearing the mark
The opposition period will officially start on the date the application was published. It will close exactly two months after the publication date.
Yes. Estonia signed the Madrid Protocol registration system.
No, it is not a requirement.
Renewals are done every 10 years from the date of initial registration or from the date of last renewal.
The first renewal will happen 10 years from the date when the registration was granted.
A power of attorney is necessary to renew a trademark.
After the expiration date, the trademark is still renewable within 6 months.