RIGHTS CONFERRED ON PATENTS & LIMITATION IN CAMEROON
Patents in Cameroon are regulated by the Bangui Accord which is managed by the African Intellectual Property Organisation (OAPI). Patents are one of the aspects of Intellectual property law protection in Cameroon.
Patents is defined by the Bangui Accord on Intellectual property right which is also applicable in Cameroon to be the title granted for the protection of an invention. RIGHTS CONFERRED BY THE PATENT IN CAMEROON
- Confer on the owner the exclusive right to work the patented invention.
- Confer on the owner the right to prohibit any person from working the patented invention.
WHAT DOES WORKING OF A PATENTED INVENTION MEAN?
The meaning of “working of a patented invention” vary as to whether the patent is granted for a product or a process.
- If the patent is granted for a Product:
- Manufacturing, importing, offering for sale, selling and using the product,
- Holding the product for the purposes of offering it for sale, selling it or using it.
- If the patent is granted for a Process:
- Using the process;
- Engaging in the acts mention in one above in relation to a product resulting directly from the use of the process.
The owner also has the right to assign the patent, transfer it by succession and enter into license contracts.
The owner in addition to all other rights, remedies or actions available to him, the owner of the patent has the right to institute legal proceedings before the court of the place of the infringement against any person who commits an infringement of the patent by performing, without his consent, one of the acts mentioned above under a product or process, or who performs acts that make it probable that an infringement will be committed
RIGHT TO THE PATENT IN CAMEROON
- The right to the patent shall belong to the inventor; the applicant shall be deemed to be the owner of the right.
- Where two or more persons have made an inventory jointly, the right to the patent shall belong to them jointly.
- Where two or more persons have made the same invention independently of each other, the right to the patent shall belong to the one who filed the application bearing the earliest filing date or, where priority is claimed, the earliest validly claimed priority date, provided that the said application is not withdrawn, abandoned or rejected.
The right to the patent may be assigned or transferred by succession.
RIGHT TO THE PATENT: EMPLOYEE INVENTIONS IN CAMEROON
In conformity with legal provisions governing contracts for performing certain tasks/work alongside the contract of employment, and in the absence of any contractual provisions to the contrary, the right to a patent for an invention made under such a contract shall belong to the person who commissioned the work or to the employer.
This shall apply where an employment contract does not require the employee to exercise any inventive activity, but where the employee has made the invention using data or means available to him on account of his employment.
Under the circumstances of the preceding paragraph, the employee who has made the invention shall have a right to remuneration reflecting the importance of the patented invention, which remuneration shall be fixed by the court in the absence of agreement between the parties. In the circumstances provided in the first paragraph, the said employee shall have a similar right if the invention is of very exceptional importance.
The above provisions shall likewise be applicable to employees of the state, public associations and any corporate entity under public law in the absence of specific provisions to the contrary.
Where the employer expressly renounces his right to the patent, that right shall belong to the inventor.
TERM OF PROTECTION
The patent has a 20-year validity period.
LIMITATION OF THE RIGHTS CONFERRED BY THE PATENT
The rights derived from the patent do not extend to the following:a. To acts in relation to subject matter brought on to the market on the territory of a member state by the owner of the patent or with his consent;
b. To the use of objects on board foreign aircraft, land vehicles or ships that temporarily or accidentally enter the airspace, territory or waters of a member state;
c. To acts in relation to a patented invention that are carried out for experimental purposes in the course of scientific and technical research etc.
RIGHT OF FOREIGNERS TO PATENTS IN CAMEROON
Foreigners may obtain patents on the conditions specified above.