Quick answer
An Estonian company can protect its brand in two ways. An EU trade mark, registered with EUIPO, covers all 27 EU countries with one application; the fee is €850 for one class of goods or services. An Estonian trademark, registered with the Estonian Patent Office, covers Estonia only and costs €145. Both last ten years and can be renewed. For a business that sells across borders, the EU trade mark is the usual choice. Register the name as a word mark first, and check that no similar mark exists before you pay the fee.
Registering a company in Estonia takes a day. Registering the brand it trades under takes a few months, and many founders skip it because they assume the company name is already protected. It is not. The name in the Commercial Register stops someone from registering an identical company, and nothing more. It does not stop a competitor from using the same name on their products or from registering it as a trademark before you do.
A trademark does both, within the territory where it is registered. This guide to trademark registration in Estonia explains, in plain terms, the types of trademark, the choice between an EU trade mark and an Estonian one, the procedure, the cost and the usual mistakes. If your Estonian company needs a trademark, a design or a patent, Eesti Firma can organise the whole registration for you; the details are at the end.
Why the Company Name Is Not a Trademark
The business name in the Commercial Register and a trademark protect different things. The business name identifies the legal person; the registrar checks that it differs from other registered names, and that is where its protection ends. A trademark identifies goods or services and belongs to whoever registers it first for those goods or services, whether or not they have a company with that name.
The two can belong to different people. Nothing stops a company in Spain from registering your company name as an EU trade mark for software, and once it has, you are the one infringing. The e-Residency programme itself warns new founders that the company name grants no trademark rights. Our guide to choosing and checking a company name covers the search to run before the company is registered; this one covers what to do once it exists.
Types of Trademarks: Word Mark, Logo and the Rest
A trademark is any sign that distinguishes your goods or services from everyone else’s. EUIPO and the Estonian Patent Office accept the same types, and the first two cover almost every application from a small company.
| Type of mark | What is protected | When it makes sense |
|---|---|---|
| Word mark | The word or words themselves, in any font, colour or size | A brand name, product name or slogan; the first mark almost every company should file |
| Figurative mark | A logo, a stylised word or a combination of word and image, exactly as filed | A distinctive logo, or a name too descriptive to register on its own |
| Other marks: shape, colour, position, pattern, sound, motion | Packaging, a colour, a jingle, an animated logo | Established brands with a recognisable product or sound; rarely a first application |
Founders often want to register the logo, because it looks like the brand. In most cases the word mark is the stronger protection: it covers the name however it is written, so a competitor who copies it in a different font still infringes. A figurative mark protects the picture as filed, and the protection stays with the old version when the logo changes.
The exception is a descriptive name. “Estonian Accounting Services” cannot be registered as a word mark for accounting services, because the words describe the service. Inside a distinctive logo the same words can be registered as a figurative mark, but the protection then covers the design, not the words. Where the budget allows one filing, file the word mark; where the name is borderline, file both.
EU Trade Mark or Estonian Trademark
The choice is between territory and price. An EU trade mark (EUTM) is one registration valid in every EU member state, administered by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). An Estonian trademark is registered with the Estonian Patent Office and protects you in Estonia only. Both last ten years from the filing date and can be renewed for ten years at a time.
| EU trade mark (EUIPO) | Estonian trademark (Estonian Patent Office) | |
|---|---|---|
| Territory | All 27 EU member states, as one right | Estonia |
| Official fee | €850 online for one class; €50 for the second class, €150 for each further class | €145 for one class; €45 for each further class |
| Language of the procedure | Any EU language, English included | Estonian |
| What the office checks | Only whether the mark itself can be registered: distinctive, not descriptive, not misleading. Earlier similar marks are not checked; their owners may oppose | The same |
| Opposition period, when owners of earlier marks can object | Three months from publication of the application | Two months from publication of the registration decision |
| Time to registration if nothing goes wrong | About four to five months | About four months; about a month less under the accelerated procedure |
The EU trade mark costs almost six times more, and for most companies founded by foreigners it is still the right answer, because almost none of them sell only in Estonia. An e-commerce company shipping across the EU, a software company with customers in Germany and Spain, or an agency with clients abroad gets one right that works in every market and that Amazon and other marketplaces recognise. Protection in two or three EU countries bought separately already costs more than one EUTM.
An Estonian trademark is enough for a business that serves Estonian customers only, such as a café or a local service company. It is also the fallback when a name is distinctive in Estonia but an ordinary word in another EU language: the EU trade mark will be refused, the Estonian one will not.
How to Register a Trademark in Estonia or the EU: Step by Step
The procedure is the same in outline at EUIPO and at the Estonian Patent Office, and an Estonian OÜ can file at either on its own, online. The one practical difference is language: EUIPO works in English, the Estonian Patent Office in Estonian, including any objection from the examiner.
- Search before you file. Check the name in EUIPO’s eSearch plus and in TMview, which covers national registers across the EU, including Estonia. Look for similar marks in the same classes, not only exact matches. The official fee is not refunded if the application fails, so this half hour is the cheapest part of the process.
- Choose the type of mark and the classes. Every trademark is registered for specific goods or services, grouped into 45 classes of the Nice Classification, and protects you only in the classes you paid for. A software company typically needs class 9 (software) and class 42 (software as a service); a consultancy class 35; a clothing brand class 25. Two or three classes that match what the business sells are usually the right number: each extra class costs money, and a class not used within five years can be revoked at anyone’s request.
- File and pay. The application names the company with its registry code, shows the mark and lists the goods and services. Pick the terms from the office’s harmonised database rather than writing your own, and pay the fee at filing. The application then qualifies for the quicker examination route at both offices: Fast Track at EUIPO, the accelerated procedure in Estonia.
- Examination and publication. The office checks whether the mark is distinctive enough to work as a trademark, whether it merely describes the goods or services and whether it is misleading. EUIPO also sends you a report of earlier similar EU trade marks and notifies their owners. If there is no objection, the application is published.
- Opposition period and registration. Owners of earlier marks have three months at EUIPO, or two months in Estonia, to oppose. If nobody does, the mark is registered. An opposition adds several months and is usually settled by limiting the classes or agreeing on how each side uses its mark.
What Trademark Registration Costs in Estonia and the EU
The official fee is only part of the cost. For a simple application in two classes the budget looks like this.
| Item | EU trade mark | Estonian trademark |
|---|---|---|
| Official fee, two classes | €900 | €190 |
| Clearance search and application prepared by a professional | Several hundred euros, depending on the provider and the number of countries searched | A smaller amount, as only the Estonian and EU registers are searched |
| Response to an objection or an opposition | Not needed in a clean case; several hundred to a few thousand euros if it is | The same |
EUIPO’s SME Fund gives most of the official fee back. An EU-based company with fewer than 250 employees qualifies, and the trademark voucher refunds 75% of the application fee, up to €700 per company per year, for an EU, national or international trademark. On a two-class EU application the company pays €900 and gets €675 back. The voucher must be granted before the trademark application is filed; a mark filed first is not refunded. The fund opens each year in February and closes in early December, and the money can run out before then.
Where Trademark Applications Go Wrong
Two things can stop a registration: a refusal by the examiner, because the mark itself cannot be registered, and an opposition from the owner of an earlier mark. The second catches founders who checked the Commercial Register when choosing the company name and never looked at the trademark databases. The last two rows are mistakes that do not stop the registration but cost money later.
| Problem | Example | How to avoid it |
|---|---|---|
| The mark describes the goods or services, or is a geographical name | “Cloud Accounting” for accounting software; “Baltic” or “Nordic” on their own | Choose an invented or arbitrary word, or add a distinctive element |
| The mark is an ordinary word in another EU language | An English name that means something in Italian or Swedish | Check the name in every EU language before filing an EUTM; an Estonian mark may still be possible |
| A similar earlier mark in the same classes | Your “Nordwave” for software against an existing “Nordwav” for apps | Search for similar marks, not only identical ones |
| The mark is filed in the founder’s name | The founder registers the mark personally while the company trades under it | Register the mark in the company’s name; a buyer or investor will ask |
| The logo is filed, the name is not | A competitor uses the name in plain text | File the word mark first, the logo second |
A refusal is not the end of the road: the applicant has two months to respond to an objection, and a mark refused by EUIPO can still be registered nationally in the countries where the objection does not apply.
Registration is not the end of the work either. A mark must be put to genuine use within five years and renewed every ten years. It also has to be watched: neither office refuses a later application because of your mark, so someone has to check the registers and oppose within the two or three months allowed.
Trademark, Design and Patent Registration With Eesti Firma
If your Estonian company needs a trademark, a registered design or a patent, we organise the registration from start to finish. We check the name against the EU and Estonian registers, choose the type of mark and the classes, and apply for the SME Fund voucher. Then we file the application with EUIPO or the Estonian Patent Office and see it through to the certificate. Where the case calls for a registered patent attorney, we bring one in. If the brand belongs to a company that does not exist yet, we start with company formation in Estonia and file the trademark as soon as the company has a registry code. Tell us what the brand is and where you sell, and our legal team will say which mark to file, what it will cost and how long it will take.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The business name in the Commercial Register only prevents another company from registering the same name. It gives no right to stop others from using the name on goods or services and no standing with marketplaces. For that you need a registered trademark.
An EU trade mark if you sell, or plan to sell, outside Estonia: one application covers all 27 member states for €850 in one class. An Estonian trademark, at €145, is enough for a business that serves Estonian customers only, and it is also the route when a name is distinctive in Estonia but descriptive in another EU language.
The official fee is €145 for an Estonian trademark in one class, plus €45 per further class, and €850 for an EU trade mark online, plus €50 for the second class and €150 for each further one. Professional help with the search and the application comes on top. EU-based small companies can get 75% of the official fee back, up to €700, through EUIPO’s SME Fund, if they obtain the voucher before filing.
An EU trade mark is usually registered four to five months after filing if there is no objection or opposition, three of those months being the opposition period. An Estonian trademark takes about four months: the registration decision in about two months, or three to four weeks under the accelerated procedure, followed by a two-month opposition period.
A word mark protects the words in any font or design and is the stronger right for a brand name. A figurative mark protects the logo exactly as filed. If the name is too descriptive to register on its own, the logo may still be registrable, but the protection then covers the design rather than the words.
No. It covers the 27 EU member states only. For those countries you need a national registration or an international application under the Madrid system, which can be based on your EU or Estonian trademark.
