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TITLE III RIGHT TO A PATENT AND INDICATION OF THE INVENTOR

10.

(1) The right to a patent shall belong to the inventor or to his successors in title and it shall be transferable by any of the means recognized in the Law.

(2) Where an invention has been made jointly by a number of persons, the right to obtain a patent shall belong to them jointly.

(3) Where the same invention has been made independently by various persons, the right to a patent shall belong to the person whose application bears the first date of registration in Spain, provided that the application has been published in accordance with the provisions of Article 32 hereunder.

(4) For the purposes of the procedure before the Registry of Industrial Property, it shall be assumed that the applicant is authorized to exercise the right to a patent.

11.

(1) Where, on the basis of the provisions of paragraph (1) of the preceding Article, a final judgment has recognized the right to obtain a patent to a person other than the applicant and provided that the patent has not been granted within a period of three months after the judgment has become res judicata, the person concerned may

(a) continue the application procedure, substituting himself for the applicant;
(b) file a new patent application for the same invention, benefiting from the same priority; or
(c) request that the application be rejected.

(2) The provisions of Article 24(3) shall apply to any new application filed under the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

(3) Where a request for the judgment referred to in paragraph (1), above, has been made, the patent application may not be withdrawn without the consent of the plaintiff. After the application has been published, the judge shall decree the patent procedure suspended until the final judgement has been duly notified if the plaintiff's claim has been rejected, or until three months after such notification if the plaintiff's claim is accepted.

12.

(1) Where a patent has been granted to a person not authorized to obtain it according to the provisions of Article 10(1), above, the person authorized in accordance with the said Article may claim transfer of ownership of the patent, without prejudice to any other corresponding rights or action.

(2) Where a person has the right to part of a patent only, he may claim co-ownership of the patent in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

(3) The rights mentioned in the preceding paragraph may only be exercised within a period of two years from the date of publication of the grant of the patent in the Official Bulletin of Industrial Property [Boletin Oficial de la Propiedad Industrial]. This period shall not apply where, at the time the patent was granted or acquired, the owner knew that he did not have the relevant right.

(4) For the purposes of notifying third parties, the filing of a judicial claim to exercise the actions mentioned in this Article shall be recorded in the Patent Register, together with the final judgment or any other form of termination of the procedure initiated as a result of the said claim, at the request of the interested party.

13.

(1) Where a change in ownership of a patent takes place as a result of a judgment as provided for in the preceding Article, any license and other rights of third parties in the patent shall be cancelled when the person authorized is registered in the Patent Register.

(2) Both the owner of a patent and the holder of a license obtained before registration of the filing of a judicial claim who, prior to its registration, have worked the invention or have taken effective and concrete steps for that purpose, may continue or commence working it, provided that they request the new owner entered in the Patent Register to grant a non-exclusive license within a period of two months, in the case of the former owner of the patent, or, in the case of licenses, within a period of four months after receiving notification of the registration of the new owner from the Registry of Industrial Property. The license shall be granted for an appropriate period and under reasonable conditions which, where appropriate, shall be fixed through the procedure laid down in the present Law with regard to compulsory licenses.

(3) The provisions set out in the preceding paragraph shall not apply where the owner of the patent or the licensee acted in bad faith at the time they commenced working the invention or taking steps to do so.

14.

As far as the owner of the patent application or of the patent is concerned, the inventor shall have the right to be mentioned in the patent as being the inventor.

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