Suiza
Albania
Patentes (incluida la protección de variedades vegetales)
3. Does your legislation, in accordance with Article 27.1 in combination with Article 31 of the TRIPS Agreement, consider importation as "working" a patent (and therefore preclude compulsory licensing, if a product is being imported)?
According to Article 27 of the 'Law on Industrial Property" (1994): (1) Where the patent concerns a product, the owner of the patent shall have the right to prevent third parties from performing, without his authorization, the following acts: (a) the making of a product incorporating the protected invention; (b) the offering or the putting on the market of a product incorporating the protected invention, the using of such a product, or the importing or stocking of such a product for such offering or putting on the market; (c) the inducing of other parties to perform any of the above acts. (2) Where the patent concerns a process, the owner of the patent shall have the right to prevent third parties from performing, without his authorization, the following acts: (a) the using of a process which is the subject matter of the patent; (b) in respect of any product directly obtained by such process, any of the acts referred to in paragraph (1)(b), even where a patent cannot be obtained for the said product; (c) the inducing of other parties to perform any of the above acts. (3) The owner of a patent shall have no right to prevent third parties from performing, without his authorization, the acts referred to in paragraphs (1) and (2) in the following circumstances: (a) where the act concerns a product covered by the patent after it has been put on the market by the owner of the patent, or with his express consent, in the Republic of Albania or in any territory specified in the bilateral or multilateral agreements which have been acceded to by Republic of Albania; (b) where the act is done privately and for non-commercial purposes, provided that it does not significantly prejudice the economic interests of the owner of the patent; (c) where the act is done for purely experimental purposes or for scientific research; (d) where the act consists of the extemporaneous preparation for individual cases, in a pharmacy or by a medical doctor, of a medicine in accordance with a medical prescription or acts concerning the medicine so prepared. (4) A patent shall also confer on its owner the right to prevent third parties from supplying or offering to supply a person, other than a party entitled to exploit the patented invention, with means, relating to an element of that invention, for carrying it out, when the third party knows, or it is obvious in the circumstances, that those means are suitable and intended for carrying out that invention. This provision shall not apply when the means are staple commercial products and the circumstances of the supply of such products do not constitute inducement to infringe the patent.