It is open to interested persons to apply for a non-voluntary licence under s. 37 of the Act. Applications for these licenses are available to interested persons four years after the date of the grant or three years from the filing date, where the patent owner has not exploited or has not sufficiently exploited the patented invention. Additionally, under s. 34, the Minister may decide that even without the agreement of the patent owner, a Government agency or a third party designated by the Ministry may exploit the invention where:
(a) the public interest, in particular, National Security, Nutrition, Health, or the development of other vital sectors of the national economy so requires; or
(b) the Minister has determined that the manner of exploitation, by the owner of the patent or his or her licensee, is anti-competitive, and he or she is satisfied that the exploitation of the invention in accordance with this subsection would remedy such practice.
