IP Intelligence › Ask a Question › Can I get a compulsory licence, or resist one?
Guided answer
Can I get a compulsory licence, or resist one?
Section 84 lets a person interested ask the Controller for a licence under someone else's patent, but only on specific grounds and after specific steps.
Not yet: an application can be made only after three years from grant.
Moderate complexity - several routes or missing facts
- Section 84(1) allows an application "at any time after the expiration of three years from the date of the grant of a patent".
- Check the grant date on the register, not the filing or publication date.
- In the meantime, ask the patentee for a voluntary licence and keep a record of the request and the answer; the Controller considers whether you tried to get one on reasonable terms (section 84(6)).
Read next
Not sure whether this applies to your invention?
The honest answer usually needs someone to look at your actual disclosure, your timeline and the prior art. That is a conversation, not an article.