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TITLE VI EFFECTS OF PATENTS AND PATENT APPLICATIONS 49. The term of a patent shall be a non-extendable period of 20 years from the date of filing the application and it shall have effect from the date on which the grant of the patent was published. 50. A patent shall give its owner the right to prevent any third party from undertaking the following acts without his consent: (a) manufacturing, offering for sale, putting on the market or using the product that is the subject matter of the patent or importing or possessing the product for one of the above-mentioned purposes; (b) making use of a process that is the subject matter of a patent or offering such use when the third party is aware, or the circumstances make it obvious, that use of the process without the consent of the patent's owner is prohibited; (c) offering for sale, putting on the market or using the product directly obtained by the process that is the subject matter of the patent or importing or possessing the said product for any of the above-mentioned purposes. 51. (1) A patent shall also entitle its owner to prevent a third party from handing over or offering to hand over to unauthorized persons without his consent elements related to an essential part of the invention to be used for putting the invention into effect, when the third party knows, or the circumstances make it obvious, that such elements are capable of putting the invention into effect and are to be used for that purpose. (2) The provisions set out in the preceding paragraph shall not apply when the elements referred to are products commonly to be found on the market, unless the third party incites the person concerned to commit acts prohibited in the preceding paragraph. (3) Persons committing the acts specified in subparagraphs (a) to (c) of the following Article shall not be considered to be persons authorized to work the invention within the meaning of paragraph (1), above. 52. The rights conferred by the patent shall not extend to (a) acts carried out in private and not for any commercial purpose; (b) acts carried out for experimental purposes related to the subject matter of the patented invention; (c) the extemporaneous preparation of medicines in pharmacies carried out singly in making up a prescription and acts related to the medicines thus prepared; (d) use of the subject matter of the patented invention on board vessels of countries of the Paris Union, in the body of the vessel, in the machinery, tackle, gear and other accessories, when such vessels temporarily or accidentally enter Spanish waters, provided that the subject matter of the patent is used exclusively for the needs of the vessel; (e) use of the subject matter of the patented invention in the construction or operation of aircraft or land vehicles of countries members of the Paris Union, or of accessories of such aircraft or land vehicles, when those aircraft or land vehicles temporarily or accidentally enter Spanish territory; (f) acts provided for in Article 27 of the Convention of December 7, 1944, on international civil aviation, when such acts relate to aircraft of a State to which the provisions of the said Article apply. 53. The rights conferred by a patent shall not extend to acts committed in Spain with regard to a product protected by the patent after the said product has been put on the market in Spain by the patent's owner or with his consent. 54. (1) The owner of a patent shall not have the right to prevent persons who, in good faith, prior to the date of priority of the patent, had worked the patented invention in Spain or had made serious and concrete preparations to work the said invention, from continuing or commencing working it or from making preparations in the same manner as before in such a way as to meet the reasonable needs of their enterprises. This right to work the invention shall only be transferable with the enterprise. (2) The rights conferred by the patent shall not extend to acts related to a product protected by it after the product has been put on the market by the person who enjoys the right to work the invention mentioned in the preceding paragraph. 55. The owner of a patent may not invoke the patent in his defense in actions against him for infringement of other patents that have an earlier date of priority. 56. The fact that a patented invention cannot be worked without using an invention protected by an earlier patent belonging to another owner shall not be an obstacle to its validity. In such cases, the owner of the earlier patent may not work the later patent during its period of validity without the consent of its owner, nor may the owner of the later patent work either of the two patents during the period of validity of the earlier patent, unless he has the consent of the latter's owner or has obtained a compulsory license. 57. A patented invention may not be worked in any form contrary to the Law, morality, public order or public health, and its working shall be subject to the prohibitions and restrictions, whether temporary or permanent, established or to be established by the legal provisions. 58. (1) Where a patent is granted for an invention that comes under a legal monopoly, the monopolist may only use the invention with the consent of the patentee; however, in his industry, he shall be obliged to use those inventions that involve notable technical progress for the industry, obtaining the corresponding right of working. (2) The monopolist shall have the right to request that he be authorized to work the patented invention and he may require the patentee, in exercise of this right, to allow him to acquire the patent. The amount to be paid by the monopolist for the right to work the patented invention or for acquisition of the patent shall be fixed by agreement between the parties, or, in the absence of agreement, by legal decision. (3) Without prejudice to implementation of the provisions laid down in the preceding paragraphs, where a monopoly has been established after a patent has been granted, the patentee shall also have the right to require the monopolist to acquire the enterprise or the equipment with which he has worked the patented invention, upon payment of an amount to be fixed between the parties or, in the absence of agreement, by legal decision. (4) Patented inventions that cannot be worked because of the existence of a legal monopoly shall not be subject to annual fees. 59. (1) A patent application shall, from the date of its publication, confer on its owner provisional protection consisting of the right to require reasonable remuneration appropriate to the circumstances from any third party who, between the date of that publication and that of the announcement that the patent has been granted, has made use of the invention in a manner that would have been prohibited when the patent had already been granted. (2) That provisional protection shall also apply before the application's publication to any person informed of the filing of the application and its contents. (3) Where the subject matter of the patent application consists of a process concerning a microorganism, provisional protection shall only commence when the microorganism has been made available to the public. (4) Patent applications shall have none of the effects provided for in the preceding paragraphs when they have been or are considered to have been withdrawn or when they have been rejected as a result of a final decision. 60. (1) The scope of protection conferred by a patent or patent application shall be determined by the content of the claims. The description and drawings shall, however, be used to interpret the claims. (2) For the period preceding the grant of a patent, the scope of protection shall be determined by the claims in the application, just as if these had been made public. The patent as granted shall, however, determine the protection retroactively, provided that its scope has not been extended. 61. (1) Where a product for which there is already a corresponding patent for its manufacturing process is introduced into Spain, the owner of the patent shall, in respect of the product introduced, have the same rights as those granted under the present Law for products manufactured in Spain. (2) Where a patent concerns a process for the manufacture of new products or substances, unless there is proof to the contrary, it shall be presumed that any product or substance with the same characteristics has been obtained by using the patented process. (3) During proceedings to prove the contrary, as provided for in the preceding paragraph, the legitimate interests of the plaintiff shall be taken into account so as to protect his manufacturing or trade secrets.

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