Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property

Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property in the United States

Article 4bis

(1) Patents applied for in the various countries of the Union by nationals
of countries of the Union shall be independent of patents obtained for the
same invention in other countries, whether members of the Union or not.

(2) The foregoing provision is to be understood in an unrestricted sense,
in particular, in the sense that patents applied for during the period of
priority are independent, both as regards the grounds for nullity and
forfeiture, and as regards their normal duration.

(3) The provision shall apply to all patents existing at the time when it
comes into effect.

(4) Similarly, it shall apply, in the case of the accession of new
countries, to patents in existence on either side at the time of accession.

(5) Patents obtained with the benefit of priority shall, in the various
countries of the Union, have a duration equal to that which they would
have, had they been applied for or granted without the benefit of priority.

Article 4ter

The inventor shall have the right to be mentioned as such in the patent.

Article 4quater

The grant of a patent shall not be refused and a patent shall not be
invalidated on the ground that the sale of the patented product or of a
product obtained by means of a patented process is subject to restrictions
or limitations resulting from the domestic law.

Article 5

A. (1) Importation by the patentee into the country where the patent has
been granted of articles manufactured in any of the countries of the Union
shall not entail forfeiture of the patent.

(2) Each country of the Union shall have the right to take legislative
measures providing for the grant of compulsory licenses to prevent the
abuses which might result from the exercise of the exclusive rights
conferred by the patent, for example, failure to work.

(3) Forfeiture of the patent shall not be provided for except in cases
where the grant of compulsory licenses would not have been sufficient to
prevent the said abuses. No proceedings for the forfeiture or revocation of
a patent may be instituted before the expiration of two years from the
grant of the first compulsory license.

(4) A compulsory license may not be applied for on the ground of failure to
work or insufficient working before the expiration of a period of four
years from the date of filing of the patent application or three years from
the date of the grant of the patent, whichever period expires last; it
shall be refused if the patentee justifies his inaction by legitimate
reasons. Such a compulsory license shall be non-exclusive and shall not be
transferable, even in the form of the grant of a sub-license, except with
that part of the enterprise or goodwill which exploits such license.

(5) The foregoing provisions shall be applicable, mutatis mutandis, to
utility models.

B. The protection of industrial designs shall not, under any circumstance,
the subject to any forfeiture, either by reason of failure to work or by
reason of the importation of articles corresponding to those which are
protected.

C. (1) If, in any country, use of the registered mark is compulsory, the
registration may be cancelled only after a reasonable period, and then only
if the person concerned does not justify his inaction.

(2) Use of a trademark by the proprietor in a form differing in elements
which do not alter the distinctive character of the mark in the form in
which it was registered in one of the countries of the Union shall not
entail invalidation of the registration and shall not diminish the
protection granted to the mark.

(3) Concurrent use of the same mark on identical or similar goods by
industrial or commercial establishments considered as co-proprietors of the
mark according to the provisions of the domestic law of the country where
protection is claimed shall not prevent registration or diminish in any way
the protection granted to the said mark in any country of the Union,
provided that such use does not result in misleading the public and is not
contrary to the public interest.

D. No indication or mention of the patent, of the utility model, of the
registration of the trademark, or of the deposit of the industrial design,
shall be required upon the goods as a condition of recognition of the right
to protection.

Article 5bis

(1) A period of grace of not less than six months shall be allowed for the
payment of the fees prescribed for the maintenance of industrial property
rights, subject, if the domestic legislation so provides, to the payment of
a surcharge.

(2) The countries of the Union shall have the right to provide for the
restoration of patents which have lapsed by reason of non-payment of fees.

Article 5rer

In any country of the Union the following shall not be considered as
infringements of the rights of a patentee:

1. the use on board vessels of other countries of the Union of devices
forming the subject of his patent in the body of the vessel, in the
machinery, tackle, gear and other accessories, when such vessels
temporarily or accidentally enter the waters of the said country,
provided that such devices are used there exclusively for the needs
of the vessel;

2. the use of devices forming the subject of the patent in the
construction or operation of aircraft or land vehicles of other
countries of the Union, or of accessories of such aircraft or land
vehicles, when those aircraft or land vehicles temporarily or
accidentally enter the said country.

Article 5quater

When a product is imported into a country of the Union where there exists a
patent protecting a process of manufacture of the said product, the
patentee shall have all the rights, with regard to the imported product,
that are accorded to him by the legislation of the country of importation,
on the basis of the process patent, with respect to products manufactured
in that country.

Article 5quinquies

Industrial designs shall be protected in all the countries of the Union.

Article 6

(1) The conditions for the filing and registration of trademarks shall be
determined in each country of the Union by its domestic legislation.

(2) However, an application for the registration of a mark filed by a
national of a country of the Union in any country of the Union may not be
refused, nor may a registration be invalidated, on the ground that filing,
registration, or renewal, has not been effected in the country of origin.

(3) A mark duly registered in a country of the Union shall be regarded as
independent of marks registered in the other countries of the Union,
including the country of origin.

Article 6bis

(1) The countries of the Union undertake, ex officio if their legislation
so permits, or at the request of an interested party, to refuse or to
cancel the registration, and to prohibit the use, of a trademark which
constitutes a reproduction, an imitation, or a translation, liable to
create confusion, of a mark considered by the competent authority of the
country of registration or use to be well known in that country as being
already the mark of a person entitled to the benefits of this Convention
and used for identical or similar goods. These provisions shall also apply
when the essential part of the mark constitutes a reproduction of any such
well-known mark or an imitation liable to create confusion therewith.

(2) A period of at least five years from the date of registration shall be
allowed for requesting the cancellation of such a mark. The countries of
the Union may provide for a period within which the prohibition of use must
be requested.

(3) No time limit shall be fixed for requesting the cancellation or the
prohibition of the use of marks registered or used in bad faith.


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