INTERNATIONAL TREATIES
EC Treaty
Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Communities dated 18 February 1992* (Case C-30/90, Commission v. United Kingdom)1
Headword: Compulsory patent licence
Article 30 EC Treaty; Article 5A Paris Convention; Section 48 UK Patents Act 1977
Keyword: "Compulsory licence on grounds of exclusive exploitation of the patent in form of imports of the patented product from other EU states infringes EC Treaty"
Headnote
1. Free movement of goods - industrial and commercial property - patent rights - powers of the member states - scope and limits (EC Treaty, Articles 30, 36 and 222)
2. Free movement of goods - industrial and commercial property - patent rights - grant of a compulsory licence notwithstanding normal supply of the imports from other member states - not permissible (EC Treaty, Articles 30 and 36)
Order
By treating a case where demand for the patented product is satisfied on the domestic market by imports from other member states as a case where a compulsory licence may be granted for insufficiency of exploitation of the patent the United Kingdom has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 30 of the EC Treaty.
* Official headnote and order; the full text of the decision is published in the Court of Justice Reports 1992, I-829, and, in slightly abridged form, in GRUR Int. 1994, 227, and Fleet Street Reports 1993, 1.
1 On 18 February 1992, the Court of Justice gave a similar judgment in Case C-235/89, Commission v. Italy (see Reports 1992, I-777).