French Intellectual Property Code

The rights attached to a patent application or patent are transferable in whole or in part. They may be the subject, in whole or in part, of an exclusive or non-exclusive licence to operate. The rights conferred by the patent application or patent may be invoked against a licensee who infringes any of the limitations on his licence imposed under the preceding paragraph. Subject to the case provided for in…

All acts transmitting or modifying the rights attached to a patent application or patent must, in order to be enforceable against third parties, be entered in a register, known as the National Patent Register, kept by the National Institute of Industrial Property. However, before it is entered, an act is enforceable against third parties who acquired rights after the date of that act, but who were aware of it when…

Any person governed by public or private law may, on the expiry of a period of three years after the grant of a patent, or of four years from the date of filing of the application, obtain a compulsory licence of that patent, under the conditions laid down in the following Articles, if at the time of the request, and unless there is a legitimate excuse, the owner of the…

The application for a compulsory licence is made to the judicial court: it must be accompanied by proof that the applicant has been unable to obtain a licence to exploit the patent from the patent owner and that he is in a position to exploit the invention in a serious and effective manner. The compulsory licence is granted on specified conditions, in particular as regards its duration, scope and the…

Mandatory licences and ex-officio licences are non-exclusive. The rights attached to these licences may only be transferred together with the goodwill, business or part of the business to which they are attached.

If the holder of a compulsory licence fails to comply with the conditions under which that licence was granted, the patent owner and, where applicable, the other licensees may obtain from the court the withdrawal of that licence.

The proprietor of a patent infringing an earlier patent may not work his patent without the authorisation of the proprietor of the earlier patent; the said proprietor may not work the later patent without the authorisation of the proprietor of the later patent. Where the owner of a patent cannot exploit it without infringing an earlier patent owned by a third party, the court may grant him a licence to…

Where a breeder cannot obtain or exploit a plant variety right without infringing an earlier patent, he may request the grant of a licence under that patent insofar as such licence is necessary for the exploitation of the plant variety to be protected and provided that the variety constitutes, in respect of the invention claimed in that patent, a significant technical advance and is of considerable economic interest. Where such…

If the interests of public health so require and in the absence of an amicable agreement with the patent proprietor, the Minister responsible for industrial property may, at the request of the Minister responsible for public health, subject by order to the ex officio licence system, under the conditions provided for in Article L. 613-17, any patent granted for: a) A medicinal product, a medical device, an in vitro diagnostic…