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2. If the patent has been granted for a process:
Article 55:
- using the process;
- accomplishing one of the acts mentioned under point 1 of this Article in
relation to a product, such that it stems directly from the utilization of the
process.
The owner of a patent shall also have the right to assign or to transfer by
means of succession the patent, or to conclude license contracts.
Article 56: Patent holders shall be entitled to bring proceedings before the competent court
against any party who counterfeits a patent by performing, without his consent,
one of the acts mentioned in Article 53 or which make it likely that
counterfeiting will be committed.
Section 3: Limits on the rights conferred by the patent
Article 57: The rights arising from the patent shall not cover:
1. acts relating to goods placed on sale in Burundi or in any other country by the
patent holder or with his consent, leading to the exhaustion of the patent
holder’s rights;
2. use of goods on board aircraft, land vehicles or foreign vessels which enter
temporarily or accidentally the airspace, territory or waters of Burundi;
3. acts relating to a patented invention performed solely for the purposes of
experimentation in the case of scientific and technical research;
4. acts performed by any person who, in good faith, before the date of filing or,
if priority has been claimed, on the date of priority for the application on the
basis of which the patent has been granted and, in the territory of the WTO
Member State, used the invention or made effective and serious preparations
to use it in the case that the acts do not differ in terms of their nature or their
purpose of the effective or envisaged prior use;
5. the acts of any person who makes, produces, uses or sells a patented invention
solely for purposes having a reasonable relationship with the gathering and
transmission of the information required by a law of Burundi or another
country regulating the manufacturing, use or sale of any product.
Article 58: The user’s right referred to in Article 57(4) may only be transferred or devolved
with the firm or company in which the use or preparations for use took place.
Article 59: Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 57(1), the Minister responsible for
trade shall be entitled to declare, either on his own initiative or at the request of
any interested party, that the patent rights have been exhausted and hence
authorize a third party to import the patented product or a product manufactured
directly or indirectly by means of the patented invention in another territory if
this product is not available in the territory of Burundi or is available in