Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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)

Summary

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.