| 1. |
For the purposes of this Agreement, "intellectual
property" is understood to have the meaning of Article 2 of the
Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization,
done at Stockholm on 14 July 1967. |
| 2. |
Subject to the provisions of this Article,
for purposes of intellectual property law, an activity occurring in
or on a Space Station flight element shall be deemed to have occurred
only in the territory of the Partner State of that element's registry,
except that for ESA-registered elements any European Partner State
may deem the activity to have occurred within its territory. For avoidance
of doubt, participation by a Partner State, its Cooperating Agency,
or its related entities in an activity occurring in or on any other
Partner's Space Station flight element shall not in and of itself
alter or affect the jurisdiction over such activity provided for in
the previous sentence. |
| 3. |
In respect of an invention made in or
on any Space Station flight element by a person who is not its national
or resident, a Partner State shall not apply its laws concerning secrecy
of inventions so as to prevent the filing of a patent application
(for example, by imposing a delay or requiring prior authorization)
in any other Partner State that provides for the protection of the
secrecy of patent applications containing information that is classified
or otherwise protected for national security purposes. This provision
does not prejudice (a) the right of any Partner State in which a patent
application is first filed to control the secrecy of such patent application
or restrict its further filing; or (b) the right of any other Partner
State in which an application is subsequently filed to restrict, pursuant
to any international obligation, the dissemination of an application. |
| 4. |
Where a person or entity owns intellectual
property which is protected in more than one European Partner State,
that person or entity may not recover in more than one such State
for the same act of infringement of the same rights in such intellectual
property which occurs in or on an ESA-registered element. Where the
same act of infringement in or on an ESA-registered element gives
rise to actions by different intellectual property owners by virtue
of more than one European Partner State's deeming the activity to
have occurred in its territory, a court may grant a temporary stay
of proceeding in a later-filed action pending the outcome of an earlier-filed
action. Where more than one action is brought, satisfaction of a judgment
rendered for damages in any of the actions shall bar further recovery
of damages in any pending or future action for infringement based
upon the same act of infringement. |
| 5. |
With respect to an activity occurring
in or on an ESA-registered element, no European Partner State shall
refuse to recognize a license for the exercise of any intellectual
property right if that license is enforceable under the laws of any
European Partner State, and compliance with the provisions of such
license shall also bar recovery for infringement in any European Partner
State. |
| 6. |
The temporary presence in the territory
of a Partner State of any articles, including the components of a
flight element, in transit between any place on Earth and any flight
element of the Space Station registered by another Partner State or
ESA shall not in itself form the basis for any proceedings in the
first Partner State for patent infringement. |
