Member States, persons or undertakings shall have the right, on application to the Commission, to obtain non exclusive licences under patents, provisionally protected patent rights, utility models or patent applications owned by the Community, where they are able to make effective use of the inventions covered thereby.
Under the same conditions, the Commission shall grant sublicences under patents, provisionally protected patent rights, utility models or patent applications, where the Community holds contractual licences conferring power to do so.
The Commission shall grant such licences or sublicences on terms to be agreed with the licensees and shall furnish all the information required for their use. These terms shall relate in particular to suitable remuneration and, where appropriate, to the right of the licensee to grant sublicences to third parties and to the obligation to treat the information as a trade secret.
Failing agreement on the terms referred to in the third paragraph, the licensees may bring the matter before the Court of Justice of the European Union so that appropriate terms may be fixed.
The Commission shall communicate to Member States, persons and undertakings information acquired by the Community which is not covered by the provisions of Article 12, whether such information is derived from its own research programme or communicated to the Commission with authority to make free use of it.
The Commission may, however, make the disclosure of such information conditional on its being treated as confidential and not passed on to third parties.
The Commission may not disclose information which has been acquired subject to restrictions on its use or dissemination such as information known as classified information unless it ensures compliance with these restrictions.
The Commission shall endeavour, by amicable agreement, to secure both the communication of information which is of use to the Community in the attainment of its objectives and the granting of licences under patents, provisionally protected patent rights, utility models or patent applications covering such information.
The Commission shall establish a procedure by which Member States, persons and undertakings may use it as an intermediary for exchanging provisional or final results of their research, insofar as these results have not been acquired by the Community under research contracts awarded by the Commission.
This procedure must be such as to ensure the confidential nature of the exchange. The results communicated may, however, be transmitted by the Commission to the Joint Nuclear Research Centre for documentation purposes; this shall not entail any right of use to which the communicating party has not agreed.
1.As soon as an application for a patent or a utility model relating to a specifically nuclear subject is filed with a Member State, that State shall ask the applicant to agree that the contents of the application be communicated to the Commission forthwith.
If the applicant agrees, this communication shall be made within three months of the date of filing the application. If the applicant does not agree, the Member State shall, within the same period, notify the Commission of the existence of the application.
The Commission may require a Member State to communicate the contents of an application of whose existence it has been notified.
The Commission shall make any such request within two months of the date of notification. Any extension of this period shall entail a corresponding extension of the period referred to in the sixth subparagraph of this paragraph.
On receiving such a request from the Commission, the Member State shall again ask the applicant to agree to communication of the contents of the application. If the applicant agrees, communication shall be made forthwith.
If the applicant does not agree, the Member State shall nevertheless be required to make this communication to the Commission within 18 months of the date on which the application was filed.
2.Member States shall inform the Commission, within 18 months of the filing date, of the existence of any as yet unpublished application for a patent or utility model which seems to them, prima facie, to deal with a subject which, although not specifically nuclear, is directly connected with and essential to the development of nuclear energy in the Community.
If the Commission so requests, the contents of the application shall be communicated to it within two months.
3.In order that publication may take place as soon as possible, Member States shall reduce to a minimum the time taken to process applications for patents or utility models relating to subjects referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 concerning which a request has been made by the Commission.
4.The Commission shall treat the abovementioned communications as confidential. They may only be made for documentation purposes. The Commission may, however, make use of the inventions communicated to it, either with the consent of the applicant or in accordance with Articles 17 to 23.
5.The provisions of this Article shall not apply when an agreement concluded with a third State or an international organisation precludes communication.
1.Failing amicable agreement, non exclusive licences may be granted either by arbitration or under compulsory powers in accordance with Articles 18 to 23:
(a)to the Community or to Joint Undertakings accorded this right under Article 48 in respect of patents, provisionally protected patent rights or utility models relating to inventions directly connected with nuclear research, where the granting of such licences is necessary for the continuance of their own research or indispensable to the operation of their installations.
If the Commission so requests, such licences shall include the right to authorise third parties to make use of the invention, where they are carrying out work for or orders placed by the Community or Joint Undertakings;
(b)to persons or undertakings which have applied to the Commission for them in respect of patents, provisionally protected patent rights or utility models relating to inventions directly connected with and essential to the development of nuclear energy in the Community, provided that all the following conditions are fulfilled:
at least four years have elapsed since the filing of the patent application, save in the case of an invention relating to a specifically nuclear subject;
the requirements arising out of the development of nuclear energy, in the Commission's conception of such development, in the territory of a Member State where an invention is protected, are not being met with regard to that invention;
the proprietor, having been called upon to meet such requirements either himself or through his licensees, has not complied with this request;
the persons or undertakings applying for licences are in a position to meet such requirements effectively by making use of the invention.
[X1Member States may not, in order to meet such requirements, take any coercive measures provided for in their national legislation which will limit the protection accorded to the invention, save at the prior request of the Commission.]
2.A non exclusive licence may not be granted as provided for in paragraph 1 where the proprietor can establish the existence of legitimate reasons, in particular that he has not had sufficient time at his disposal.
3.The granting of a licence pursuant to paragraph 1 shall confer a right to full compensation, the amount of which shall be agreed between the proprietor of the patent, provisionally protected patent right or utility model and the licensee.
4.The provisions of this Article shall not affect those of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
Editorial Information
An Arbitration Committee is hereby established for the purposes provided for in this Section. The Council shall appoint the members and lay down the Rules of Procedure of this Committee, acting on a proposal from the Court of Justice of the European Union.
An appeal, having suspensory effect, may be brought by the parties before the Court of Justice of the European Union against a decision of the Arbitration Committee within one month of notification thereof. The Court of Justice of the European Union shall confine its examination to the formal validity of the decision and to the interpretation of the provisions of this Treaty by the Arbitration Committee.
The final decisions of the Arbitration Committee shall have the force of res judicata between the parties concerned. They shall be enforceable as provided in Article 164.
Where, failing amicable agreement, the Commission intends to secure the granting of licences in one of the cases provided for in Article 17, it shall give notice of its intention to the proprietor of the patent, provisionally protected patent right, utility model or patent application, and shall specify in such notice the name of the applicant for and the scope of the licence.
The proprietor may, within one month of receipt of the notice referred to in Article 19, propose to the Commission and, where appropriate, to the applicant that they conclude a special agreement to refer the matter to the Arbitration Committee.
Should the Commission or the applicant refuse to enter into such an agreement, the Commission shall not require the Member State or its appropriate authorities to grant the licence or cause it to be granted.
If, when the matter is referred to it under a special agreement, the Arbitration Committee finds that the request from the Commission complies with the provisions of Article 17, it shall give a reasoned decision containing a grant of the licence to the applicant and laying down the terms of the licence and the remuneration therefor, to the extent that the parties have not reached agreement on these points.
If the proprietor does not propose that the matter be referred to the Arbitration Committee, the Commission may call upon the Member State concerned or its appropriate authorities to grant the licence or cause it to be granted.
If, having heard the proprietor's case, the Member State, or its appropriate authorities, considers that the conditions of Article 17 have not been complied with, it shall notify the Commission of its refusal to grant the licence or to cause it to be granted.
If it refuses to grant the licence or to cause it to be granted, or if, within four months of the date of the request, no information is forthcoming with regard to the granting of the licence, the Commission shall have two months in which to bring the matter before the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The proprietor must be heard in the proceedings before the Court of Justice of the European Union.
If the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union establishes that the conditions of Article 17 have been complied with, the Member State concerned, or its appropriate authorities, shall take such measures as enforcement of that judgment may require.
1.If the proprietor of the patent, provisionally protected patent right or utility model and the licensee fail to agree on the amount of compensation, the parties concerned may conclude a special agreement to refer the matter to the Arbitration Committee.
By doing so, the parties waive the right to institute any proceedings other than those provided for in Article 18.
2.If the licensee refuses to conclude a special agreement, the licence he has been granted shall be deemed void.
If the proprietor refuses to conclude a special agreement, the compensation referred to in this Article shall be determined by the appropriate national authorities.
After the lapse of one year, the decisions of the Arbitration Committee or the appropriate national authorities may, if there are new facts to justify it, be revised with respect to the terms of the licence.
Such revision shall be a matter for the body which gave the decision.
Information which the Community acquires as a result of carrying out its research programme, and the disclosure of which is liable to harm the defence interests of one or more Member States, shall be subject to a security system in accordance with the following provisions.
The Council shall, acting on a proposal from the Commission, adopt security regulations which, account being taken of the provisions of this Article, lay down the various security gradings to be applied and the security measures appropriate to each grading.
Where the Commission considers that the disclosure of certain information is liable to harm the defence interests of one or more Member States, it shall provisionally apply to that information the security grading required in that case by the security regulations.
It shall communicate such information forthwith to the Member States, which shall provisionally ensure its security in the same manner.
Member States shall inform the Commission within three months whether they wish to maintain the grading provisionally applied, substitute another or declassify the information.
Upon the expiry of this period, the highest grading of those requested shall be applied. The Commission shall notify the Member States accordingly.
At the request of the Commission or of a Member State, the Council may, acting unanimously, at any time apply another grading or declassify the information. The Council shall obtain the opinion of the Commission before taking any action on a request from a Member State.
The provisions of Articles 12 and 13 shall not apply to information subject to a security grading.
Nevertheless, provided that the appropriate security measures are observed,
the information referred to in Articles 12 and 13 may be communicated by the Commission:
to a Joint Undertaking;
to a person or undertaking other than a Joint Undertaking, through the Member State in whose territory that person or undertaking operates;
the information referred to in Article 13 may be communicated by a Member State to a person or to an undertaking other than a Joint Undertaking, operating in the territory of that State, provided that the Commission is notified of this communication;
each Member State has, however, the right to require the Commission to grant a licence under Article 12 to meet the needs of that State or those of a person or undertaking operating in its territory.
1.A Member State notifying the existence or communicating the contents of an application for a patent or utility model relating to a subject specified in Article 16(1) or (2) shall, where appropriate, draw attention to the need to apply a given security grading for defence reasons, at the same time stating the probable duration of such grading.
The Commission shall pass on to the other Member States all communications received in accordance with the preceding subparagraph. The Commission and the Member States shall take those measures which, under the security regulations, correspond to the grading required by the State of origin.
2.The Commission may also pass on these communications to Joint Undertakings or, through a Member State, to a person or to an undertaking other than a Joint Undertaking operating in the territory of that State.
Inventions which are the subject of applications referred to in paragraph 1 may be used only with the consent of the applicant or in accordance with Articles 17 to 23.
The communications and, where appropriate, the use referred to in this paragraph shall be subject to the measures which, under the security regulations, correspond to the security grading required by the State of origin.
The communications shall in all cases be subject to the consent of the State of origin. Consent to communication and use may be withheld only for defence reasons.
3.At the request of the Commission or of a Member State, the Council may, acting unanimously, at any time apply another grading or declassify the information. The Council shall obtain the opinion of the Commission before taking any action on a request from a Member State.
1.Where information covered by patents, patent applications, provisionally protected patent rights, utility models or applications for utility models has been classified in accordance with Articles 24 and 25, the States which have applied for such classification may not refuse to allow corresponding applications to be filed in the other Member States.
Each Member State shall take the necessary measures to maintain the security of such rights and applications in accordance with the procedure laid down in its own laws and regulations.
2.No applications relating to information classified in accordance with Article 24 may be filed outside the Member States except with the unanimous consent of the latter. Should Member States fail to make known their attitude, their consent shall be deemed to have been obtained on the expiry of six months from the date on which the information was communicated to the Member States by the Commission.
Compensation for any damage suffered by the applicant as a result of classification for defence reasons shall be governed by the provisions of the national laws of the Member States and shall be the responsibility of the State which applied for such classification or which either obtained the upgrading or extension of the classification or caused the filing of applications outside the Community to be prohibited.
Where several Member States have either obtained the upgrading or extension of the classification or caused the filing of applications outside the Community to be prohibited, they shall be jointly responsible for making good any damage arising out of their action.
The Community may not claim any compensation under this Article.
Where, as a result of their communication to the Commission, unpublished applications for patents or utility models, or patents or utility models classified for defence reasons, are improperly used or come to the knowledge of an unauthorised person, the Community shall make good the damage suffered by the party concerned.
Without prejudice to its own rights against the person responsible for the damage, the Community shall, to the extent that it has made good such damage, acquire any rights of action enjoyed by those concerned against third parties. This shall not affect the right of the Community to take action against the person responsible for the damage in accordance with the general provisions in force.
Where an agreement or contract for the exchange of scientific or industrial information in the nuclear field between a Member State, a person or an undertaking on the one hand, and a third State, an international organisation or a national of a third State on the other, requires, on either part, the signature of a State acting in its sovereign capacity, it shall be concluded by the Commission.
Subject to the provisions of Articles 103 and 104, the Commission may, however, on such conditions as it considers appropriate, authorise a Member State, a person or an undertaking to conclude such agreements.