Compulsory Patent Licensing and Working in Europe

According to Jon Broughton, writing for the Association of Patent Law Firms on Septemner 26, 2007, there are compulsory licence provisions in the following European countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Portugal, Slovakia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, The Netherlands, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

"Typically, available grounds will include the patent not being exploited sufficiently to satisfy domestic demand and the situation where the applicant for a licence is unable to exploit an invention for which he holds protection under a patent of later date without infringing a patent of earlier date," writes Broughton.

In addition, in Spain and Turkey, a patentee is obliged to demonstrate working of his patented invention.