Intellectual Property Division
Monaco
(English translation by WIPO)
- Section 1 General
- Section 2 Private and/or non-commercial use
- Section 3 Experimental use and/or scientific research
- Section 4 Preparation of medicines
- Section 5 Prior use
- Section 6 Use of articles on foreign vessels, aircrafts and land vehicles
- Section 7 Acts for obtaining regulatory approval from authorities
- Section 8 Exhaustion of patent rights
- Section 9 Compulsory licensing and/or government use
- Section 10 Exceptions and limitations related to farmers' and/or breeders' use of patented inventions
- Section 11 Other exceptions and limitations
Section 1: General
1. As background for the exceptions and limitations to patents investigated in this questionnaire, what is the legal standard used to determine whether an invention is patentable? If the standard for patentability includes provisions that vary according to the technology involved, please include examples of how the standard has been interpreted, if available. Please indicate the source of law (statutory and-or case law) by providing the relevant provisions and/or a brief summary of the relevant decisions.
Industrial character, industrial application and novelty (Articles 1 and 2 of Law No. 606 of June 20, 1955).
Correspondingly, please list exclusions from patentability that exist in your law. Furthermore, please provide the source of those exclusions from patentability if different from the source of the standard of patentability, and provide any available case law or interpretive decisions specific to the exclusions.
Excluded from patentability are (Articles 3 and 24 of Law No. 606 of June 20, 1955):
(1) a discovery or application which is not novel;
(2) drugs;
(3) loan and financing plans and combinations;
(4) theoretical or purely scientific principles, methods, systems, discoveries and concepts, the industrial application of which has not been indicated;
(5) a discovery or application contrary to ordre public, good morals and laws of the Principality;
(6) projects, the title of which fraudulently indicates a subject other than the actual subject of the invention;
(7) where the description of the invention is insufficient to allow the invention to be carried out.
2. As background for the exceptions and limitations to patents investigated in this questionnaire, what exclusive rights are granted with a patent? Please provide the relevant provision in the statutory or case law. In addition, if publication of a patent application accords exclusive rights to the patent applicant, what are those rights?
The patent confers on the patentee the exclusive right to exploit the protected invention.
3. Which exceptions and limitations does the applicable law provide in respect to patent rights (please indicate the applicable exceptions/limitations):
[Note from the Secretariat: response was not provided.]
Section 2: Private and/or non-commercial use
4.-10.
[Note from the Secretariat: the applicable law of Monaco does not provide exceptions related to private and/or non-commercial use.]
Section 3: Experimental use and/or scientific research
11.-22.
[Note from the Secretariat: the applicable law of Monaco does not provide exceptions related to experimental use and/or scientific research.]
Section 4: Preparation of medicines
23.-30.
[Note from the Secretariat: the applicable law of Monaco does not provide exceptions related to the preparation of medicines.]
Section 5: Prior Use
31.-41.
[Note from the Secretariat: the applicable law of Monano does not provide exceptions related to prior use.]
Section 6: Use of articles on foreign vessels, aircrafts and land vehicles
42.-50.
[Note from the Secretariat: the applicable law of Monaco does not provide exceptions related to the use of articles on foreign vessels, aircrafts and land vehicles.]
Section 7: Acts for obtaining regulatory approval from authorities
51.-59.
[Note from the Secretariat: the applicable law of Monaco does not provide exceptions related to acts for obtaining regulatory approval from authorities.]
Section 8: Exhaustion of patent rights
60.-64.
[Note from the Secretariat: the applicable law of Monaco does not provide exceptions related to exhaustion of patent rights.]
Section 9: Compulsory licensing and/or government use
Compulsory licenses
65. If the exception is contained in statutory law, please provide the relevant provision(s):
Articles 33 to 43 of Law No. 606 of June 20, 1955
66. If the exception is provided through case law, please cite the relevant decision(s) and provide its (their) brief summary:
[Note from the Secretariat: response was not provided.]
67. What grounds for the grant of a compulsory license does the applicable law provide in respect to patents (please indicate the applicable grounds):
Non-working or insufficient working of the patented invention;
Anti-competitive practices and/or unfair competition.
68.(a) What are the public policy objectives for providing compulsory licenses in your country? Please explain:
(b) Where possible, please explain with references to the legislative history, parliamentary debates and judicial decisions:
[Note from the Secretariat: response was not provided.]
69.-70.
[Note from the Secretariat: response was not provided.]
71. In case of the grant of compulsory licenses on the grounds of non-working or insufficient working, does the applicable law provide for a certain time period to be respected before a compulsory license can be requested?
Yes
If yes, what is the time period?
Three years of non-working.
72. In case of the grant of compulsory licenses on the grounds of non-working or insufficient working, does the applicable law provide that a compulsory license shall be refused if the patentee justifies his inaction by legitimate reasons?
Yes
If yes, what are “legitimate reasons”?
The legislation does not make any specification in this regard and leaves any evaluation to the discretion of the judge.
73. If the applicable law provides for the grant of compulsory licenses on the ground of refusal by the patentee to grant licenses on “reasonable terms and conditions” and within a “reasonable period of time”, please provide the definitions given to those terms by citing legal provision(s) and/or decision(s):
[Note from the Secretariat: response was not provided.]
74. If the applicable law provides for the grant of compulsory licenses on the ground of anti-competitive practices, please indicate which anti-competitive practices relating to patents may lead to the grant of compulsory licenses by citing legal provision(s) and/or decision(s):
In order to assess the existence of an anti-competitive practice, Article 36 of Law No. 606 of June 20, 1955 state inter alia that the judge “shall take account of all the circumstances and, in particular, conditions and interest of possible exploitation of the patent”.
75. If the applicable law provides for the grant of compulsory licenses on the ground of dependent patents, please indicate the conditions that dependent patents must meet for a compulsory license to be granted:
[Note from the Secretariat: response was not provided.]
76. Does the applicable law provide a general policy to be followed in relation to the remuneration to be paid by the beneficiary of the compulsory license to the patentee? Please explain:
No, this question lies within the sovereign evaluation of judges as to the substance.
77. If the applicable law provides for the grant of compulsory licenses on the ground of “national emergency” or “circumstances of extreme urgency”, please explain how the applicable law defines those two concepts and their scope of application, and provide examples:
[Note from the Secretariat: response was not provided.]
78. Please indicate how many times and in which technological areas compulsory licenses have been issued in your country:
This procedure has never been implemented to date.
79.-80.
N/A
Government use
81.-88.
[Note from the Secretariat: the applicable law of Monaco does not provide exceptions related to government use.]
Section 10: Exceptions and limitations related to farmers' and/or breeders' use of patented inventions
89.-100.
[Note from the Secretariat: the applicable law of Monaco does not provide exceptions and limitations related to farmers’ and/or breeders' use of patented inventions.]
Section 11: Other exceptions and limitations\
101.-103.
[Note from the Secretariat: the applicable law of Monaco does not provide other exceptions and limitations.]
[End of questionnaire]
September 2011