Legislative Implementation of Flexibilities - Nicaragua

Title:	Sections 51, 53 and 54 of the Industrial Property Law No. 354 of 19/09/2000
Field of IP:	Patents
Type of flexibility:	Compulsory licenses and government use
Summary table:

Provisions of Law

Compulsory Licenses

51. At the request of an interested party or competent authority, the Intellectual Property Registry may, after having heard the owner of the patent, grant compulsory licenses for reasons of public interest or national emergency, or to control any anti-competitive practice. The Intellectual Property Registry shall order that:

(a) the invention for which a patent has been granted or for which a patent application is pending be used or exploited industrially or commercially by a State body or by one or more persons under public or private law designated for the purpose;

(b) the invention for which a patent has been granted or a patent application is pending remain open for the grant of one or more compulsory licenses, in which case the Registry may grant such a license to whoever may apply for one, subject to established conditions.Those acts that unduly affect free competition or constitute an abuse of a dominant market position are included among those that are not consistent with the proper exercise of patent rights.Where the patent protects any kind of semiconductor technology, the compulsory license shall be granted only for non-commercial public use, or to control a practice declared anti-competitive in an appropriate procedure.

Conditions Governing Compulsory Licenses

53. The compulsory license shall be granted mainly to supply the domestic market, and its owner shall receive adequate remuneration according to the circumstances of the case and the economic value of the license. In the absence of agreement the Intellectual Property Registry shall set the amount of the remuneration and the manner of its payment.The compulsory license may not be granted with exclusive rights, or be the subject of assignment or sublicensing, and it may only be transferred together with the business or establishment or part thereof that exploits the license.

Compulsory License in the Case of Patent Dependency

54. Where a compulsory license is requested to permit the working of a later patent that cannot be worked without infringing an earlier patent, the following additional conditions shall be observed:

(a) the invention claimed in the later patent must represent a substantial technical advance of considerable economic importance in relation to the invention claimed in the earlier patent;

(b) the compulsory license for working the earlier patent may only be assigned together with the later patent;

(c) the owner of the earlier patent may under the same circumstances obtain a compulsory license on reasonable terms for the exploitation of the invention claimed in the later patent.