(2) If, within three months of the summons provided for in paragraph (1) above, the
owner of the patent refuses or fails to institute the actions referred to in the said paragraph, the
beneficiary of a license that has been registered may institute the actions in his own name,
without prejudice to the owner’s right to intervene in the actions.
Article 55
Cessation of the Obligations of the Beneficiary
of the Non-Voluntary License
Any action seeking invalidation of the patent shall be directed against the patentee. If a
final legal judgment declares the patent invalid, the beneficiary of the non-voluntary license
shall be released from all obligations resulting from the decision granting him the nonvoluntary license.
Article 56
Ex-Officio Licenses
(1) Where certain patents are of vital interest to the economy of the country, public
health or national defense, or where non-working or insufficient working of such patents
seriously compromises the satisfaction of the country’s needs, they may be made subject, by
an administrative enactment of the competent Minister of the member State concerned, to the
non-voluntary license regime. The said enactment shall specify the beneficiary administration
or organization, the conditions, term and scope of the non-voluntary license and the amount of
royalties payable.
(2) In the absence of amicable agreement between the owner of the patent and the
administration concerned on the said conditions, they shall be set by the civil court.
(3) Ex-officio licenses shall be subject to the same conditions as the non-voluntary
licenses granted under Article 46.
Article 57
Licenses of Right
(1) Any owner of a patent not precluded by the terms of any previously registered
license from granting further licenses may apply to the Organization to have, in respect of his
patent, the notice “licenses of right” entered in the Register. The notice shall be entered in the
Register and published by the Organization as soon as possible.
(2) The entry of such a notice in the Register shall entitle any person to obtain a license
to work the said patent on terms that shall, in the absence of agreement between the parties
concerned, be fixed by the civil court. It shall also cause the annual fee to be reduced.
(3) The owner of the patent may at any time apply to the Organization for cancellation
of the “licenses of right” entry. If no license is in force, or if all the licensees agree to
cancellation, the Organization shall cancel the entry after payment of all the annual fees that
would have been payable had the entry not been made in the Register.
(4) The provisions of Article 26(1) of this Annex shall also apply to licenses of right.
(5) The beneficiary of a license of right may neither assign it nor grant sublicenses
under it.