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The following post does not create a lawyer-client relationship between Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices (or any of its lawyers) and the reader. It is still best for you to engage the services of a lawyer or you may directly contact and consult Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices to address your specific legal concerns, if there is any.
Also, the matters contained in the following were written in accordance with the law, rules, and jurisprudence prevailing at the time of writing and posting, and do not include any future developments on the subject matter under discussion.
AT A GLANCE:
Article 71 of the Intellectual Property Code provides for the rights of a patent owner. While Article 72 outlines the limitations, Articles 74 and 93 provide for further limitations of a patent owner.
Rights of a Patent Owner
Under Article 71 of the Intellectual Property Code, a patent shall confer on its owner the following exclusive rights:
- Where the subject matter of a patent is a product, to restrain, prohibit and prevent any unauthorized person or entity from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing that product;
- Where the subject matter of a patent is a process, to restrain, prevent or prohibit any unauthorized person or entity from using the process, and from manufacturing, dealing in, using, selling or offering for sale, or importing any product obtained directly or indirectly from such process.
Patent owners shall also have the right to assign, or transfer by succession the patent, and to conclude licensing contracts for the same (Sec. 37, R.A. No. 165).
Limitations of a Patent Owner
Under Article 72 of the Intellectual Property Code, the owner of a patent has no right to prevent third parties from performing, without his authorization, the acts referred to in Section 71 in the following circumstances:
- Using a patented product which has been put on the market in the Philippines by the owner of the product, or with his express consent, insofar as such use is performed after that product has been so put on the said market;
- Where the act is done privately and on a non-commercial scale or for a non-commercial purpose;
- Where the act consists of making or using exclusively for experimental use of the invention for scientific purposes or educational purposes and such other activities directly related to such scientific or educational experimental use;
- In the case of drugs and medicines, where the act includes testing, using, making or selling the invention including any data related thereto, solely for purposes reasonably related to the development and submission of information and issuance of approvals by government regulatory agencies required under any law of the Philippines or of another country that regulates the manufacture, construction, use or sale of any product;
- Where the act consists of the preparation for individual cases, in a pharmacy or by a medical professional, of a medicine in accordance with a medical prescription or acts concerning the medicine so prepared; and
- Where the invention is used in any ship, vessel, aircraft, or land vehicle of any other country entering the territory of the Philippines temporarily or accidentally.
Use of Invention by Government
Under Article 74 of the Intellectual Property Code, a Government agency or third person authorized by the Government may exploit the invention even without agreement of the patent owner.
Compulsory Licensing
Under Article 93 of the Intellectual Property Code, the Director General of the Intellectual Property Office may grant a license to exploit a patented invention, even without the agreement of the patent owner, in favor of any person who has shown his capability to exploit the invention.
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Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices specializes in business law and labor law consulting. For inquiries regarding legal services, you may reach us at info@alburolaw.com, or dial us at (02)7745-4391/ 09175772207/ 09778050020.
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