Owners of European patents or their representatives have repeatedly had the question of what to do if a B8 or B9 document is issued to a European patent enforced in Estonia. The short answer is that it must be re-enforced in Estonia, despite the fact that it is only a correction of the title page (B8) or a reprint of the B document (B9).

Such a requirement comes from the law currently in force in Estonia and its interpretation. The Act on the Application of the Convention on the Issuance of European Patents unequivocally states that in case of changes to the European patent, the patent owner must submit to the Estonian Patent Office a translation of the amended European patent description in Estonian within three months from the date of notification of the said changes in the official publication of the European Patent Office and pay the prescribed state fee for publicizing the translation (§ 13 par. 2). No exceptions or clarifications are provided here.

The topic of enforcement of B8 and B9 was discussed again at the last round table of the Patent Office and patent commissioners on 01.11.2023. This time with the question of whether a B8 or B9 document can be enforced immediately in Estonia if it is issued by the EPO within three months (with an extension of five months) after the issuance of B1, when a translation of the patent description (B1) must be submitted to Estonia. Tiina Feldmanis, head of the registry department, answered: "Yes. If the patent has not yet been enforced in Estonia, but the EPO has already issued B9, then we will enforce the EP on the basis of the B9 document, we have also enforced it on the basis of the B8 document, which actually means correcting the title page." If enforced later, B1 or B2 must have been enforced in Estonia beforehand .

At the round table, the Estonian patent commissioners also drew the attention of the representative of the Patent Office that in some countries the translation of the EP is made on the basis of the text accompanying the intention to issue, and on the basis of the description published by us according to the regulation. Therefore, we should basically provide a translation of the faulty description. Also, should B8 and B9 be resubmitted/enforced at all, which are only corrected documents and not relevant to the defense. In response to these views, Feldmanis stated that it is currently the case (ie it needs to be re-enforced), but these issues can be discussed and then there should be specific changes in the law and the regulation so that it is clearly understandable.

Estonia has joined the European Patent with Unitary Effect, which currently has a 7-year transition period. It is already noticeable that the enforcement of European patents in Estonia is decreasing. At the end of the transition period, the need to enforce European patents in Estonia may disappear. Therefore, it may not be practical to deal with the changes in legislation mentioned by Feldmanis. We follow the topic.