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Document 61987CJ0035
Sumarul hotărârii
Sumarul hotărârii
Free movement of goods -- Industrial and commercial property -- Patent right -- National
legislation recognizing the principle of the relative novelty of an invention -- Compatibility with
Article 36 of the Treaty -- Injunction prohibiting the importation of an infringing article --
Measure justified
(EEC Treaty, Arts 30 and 36)
In the present state of Community law, characterized by the absence of harmonization of the
patents legislation of the Member States, and in the absence of international conventions in force
providing to the contrary, Article 36 of the Treaty must be interpreted as not precluding the
application of a Member State's legislation which recognizes the principle of relative novelty and
provides that a patent granted for an invention may not be declared invalid by reason only of the
fact that the invention in question appears in a patent specification filed more than 50 years
previously. Where national law normally provides for the issue of an injunction to prevent any
infringement, that measure is justified under Article 36 in so far as it aims to preserve the actual
substance of the patent right.