Section 54: Special provisions where patented invention is being worked abroad
Licences of right and compulsory licences
- (1) His Majesty may by Order in Council provide that the comptroller may not (otherwise than for purposes of the public interest) make an order or entry in respect of a patent in pursuance of an application under sections 48 to 51 above if the invention concerned is being commercially worked in any relevant country specified in the Order and demand in the United Kingdom for any patented product resulting from that working is being met by importation from that country.
(2) In subsection (1) above “relevant country” means a country other than a member state or a member of the World Trade Organisation whose law in the opinion of His Majesty in Council incorporates or will incorporate provisions treating the working of an invention in, and importation from, the United Kingdom in a similar way to that in which the Order in Council would (if made) treat the working of an invention in, and importation from, that country.