PRACTICE AREAS
The firm's practice covers full range of intellectual property legal services
Patent Application Filing
A patent application is filed with the local Patent Office.
A patent application shall contain the following fundamental documents: a request for the grant of a patent; a description of the invention; a patent claim; drawings or other illustrative material, if required; an abstract of the subject matter of the invention. Upon receipt of a patent application, the
The Patent Office shall examine the compliance of an application with the minimum requirements for applications. The Patent Office shall publish a patent application. After the publication the Patent Office shall commence the substantive examination of the application. During the substantive examination of the application, the Patent Office shall assess novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability of the invention.
Trademark Application Filing
Trademark validity time registered with the Patent Bureau is 10 years, afterwards renewable each time for a new 10 year period.
Opposition against published marks may be submitted within 3 months from the publication date.
Whole registration process of a trademark takes about 1 year.
Further, the Customs authorities may be notified on registered marks, and in this way border control against counterfeited goods enforce, down to destruction of seized goods.
Owners of trademarks may enforce their rights on removal infringing trademarks of unofficial distributors, traders, etc., from advertisement, documents, goods and services.
Patent /Trademark Retrieval Search
Although not required prior to filing an application, you are encouraged to search the trademark database to see if any mark has already been registered or applied for that is similar to your mark and used on related products or for related services. If your search yields a mark that you think might conflict with your mark, you should then check status to see if the application or registration is still "live," since any "dead" mark cannot be used to block a new application.
The search is informative and does not have legal effect. Search results do not ensure the registration of the trade mark and are not binding on the Patent Office in processing the trade mark.
Searching first helps to ensure that the use of any proposed trademark will not infringe the rights of another party, and thus reduces the risk of any challenge or lawsuit from the owner of prior rights in a trademark or trade name.
IP Litigation
ETE Law office is uniquely situated to handle cases involving all types of intellectual property claims.
ETE have the ability to advise you on the entire life cycle of your IP assets and address the varied issues that arise in IP infringement or unfair competition cases.
ETE understand the business side of the challenges and risks posed by potential and actual lawsuits, and have the skills and experience to realize the best possible outcome for your IP litigation matters.
Brand Strategy & Design Consultancy Services
ETE Law office offering customized services pertaining to brand and image design, naming, trademark design and selection, business strategies and investigations, etc.
Monitoring infringement
If your company is doing a large volume of sourcing, manufacturing or selling or planning in a Estonian, Sweden and Finnish market, consider having at least one business representative present in that foreign country to monitor the activity in the marketplace and to conduct basic market research.
Monitor the marketplace by checking the press, trade publications and the web for companies using your trade mark without authorisation. It may be that illegal copies of your products are on sale or that competitors are using marks that are similar, but not identical, to your CTM.
Consider making an application for infringement protection with your national customs authority. Border control officers use these databases to highlight potential infringements and seize counterfeit goods.
If a product that possibly infringes your rights is found in the market, ETE law office will provide our assessment of the counter measures available.
ETE will support you in the entire chain of events: we will send a cease and desist letter to the infringing party, participate in settlement negotiations and, when needed, represent you in court..
Renewal
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To keep a registration alive, the registration owner must file required maintenance documents at regular intervals. Failure to file the required maintenance documents during the specified time periods will result in the cancellation of the trademark registration.
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The legal protection of a registered trade mark applies from the date of filing of the the trade mark registration application and is valid for 10 years after the date of filing.
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Trade marks registered on the basis of applications submitted before 1 April 2019 are subject to legal protection from the date of filing of the trade mark application and remain valid for 10 years after the date of registration.
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According to subsection 50 (1) of the Estonian Trade Marks Act, the proprietor of the trade mark can, during one year prior to expiry of the term of legal protection of a trade mark, request renewal of the term of the legal protection of the trade mark for the next ten years.