Estonia Amendments to Patent Law Introduce Prior Art Search

The Estonian government has recently prepared the amendments to the country’s patent law, which introduce prior art search and a new type of license called the “simple public license”. The amendments were submitted to the Estonian parliament for ratification on February 10, 2011.

Under the new regulations, the Estonian Patent Office will conduct prior art searches to determine whether an invention is novel on the global level. This service will be free of charge and it will not lengthen the registration process.

The amended law also introduces the “simple public license”, which is to be issued if a utility model right owner does not intend to use his own invention. In such cases, the owners will be able to release a notification in the Official Gazette stating their invention may be used within Estonia by anyone who pays a license fee.

A total of 107 utility models were registered in Estonia in the year 2010, which is 26 percent more than in 2009.

For more information, please contact Aleksandra Pavlovic at our Macedonia office.

Source: ERR (Estonian Public Broadcasting)