Article 39: Civil proceedings against patent infringement
Subject to articles 40, 41 and 46 to 48, the patent owner shall be entitled, in addition to other
rights, remedies or actions available to him, to undertake court proceedings against any person
who infringes the patent by performing, without his agreement, any of the acts referred to in
article 38 (2), or who performs acts which make it likely that infringement will occur.
Where more than one person own the same patent, each of those persons may undertake
separate proceedings for infringement of the patent against any person using the patented
invention without the agreement of all the owners.
Article 40: Limitation to patent rights: exhaustion of rights
The rights stemming from the patent shall not be extended to the acts relating to products
which have been put lawfully on the market, in Rwanda, by the patent owner or with his
consent, consequently exhausting the patent owner’s rights.
Without prejudice to the provisions of this article and article 44, the Minister shall have the
authority, on of the empowered autority’s advice or at the request of any interested party, of
declaring the patent rights exhausted, and thus of authorizing others to import the patented
product or a product manufactured directly or indirectly by means of the patented invention
(“the product”) from another territory when that product:
1° is not available in the territory of Rwanda;
2° available in the territory of Rwanda does not respect the required standards;
3° can not be available in sufficient quantities;
4° has the price that the minister finds unfair;
5° for any other reason of public interest, including anticompetitive practices.
In taking the decision, the following shall be considered:
1° the product has been put in the channels of commerce in the territory from which it will be
imported by the owner of the patent or with his consent; and
2° a patent claiming the product or the process for its manufacture is in force in the territory
from which the product will be imported and is owned by the same person who owns the
patent in Rwanda or by a person under his control.
If the importer fails to fulfill the purpose that justified the Minister’s decision to consider the
patent rights exhausted, the Minister shall, ex officio, or at the request of the patent owner,
cancel the authorization.
If the conditions that gave rise to the Minister’s decision to consider the patent exhausted
cease to exist, the Minister may, ex officio or at the request of the patent or trademark owner,
cancel the authorization, provided that the legitimate interests of the importer are taken into
account, including but not exclusively that the importer will retain the right to commercialize
the products that remain on stock.