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Co-ownership of patent applications and patents.
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80.—(1) Where a patent is applied for by, or is granted to, two or more persons, each of those persons shall, unless an agreement to the contrary is in force, be entitled to an equal undivided share in common in the patent application or patent, as the case may be.
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(2) Subject to the provisions of this section where two or more persons are entered in the register as applicants for or proprietors of a patent, then, unless an agreement to the contrary is in force, each of those persons shall be entitled, by himself or his agents, to do in respect of the invention concerned for his own benefit without accounting to the others any act which would, apart from this subsection, amount to an infringement of the patent application or patent concerned.
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(3) Subject to any agreement for the time being in force, a licence under a patent or a published patent application shall not be granted, and a share in a patent or in any such application shall not be assigned, except with the consent of all persons, other than the licensor or assignor, who are entered in the register as applicants for or proprietors of the patent.
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(4) Subject to the provisions of this section, where two or more persons are entered in the register as applicants for or proprietors of a patent, any other person may supply one of those persons with means, relating to an essential element of the relevant invention, for putting the invention into effect, and the supply of those means by virtue of this section shall not amount to an infringement of the patent application or patent.
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(5) Where a product is sold by one of two or more persons who are entered in the register as applicants for or proprietors of a patent in respect of the product, the purchaser and any person claiming through him shall be entitled to deal with it in the same manner as if the product had been sold by a sole applicant for or sole proprietor of a patent relating to the product.
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(6) Nothing in subsection (1) or (2) shall affect the mutual rights or obligations of trustees or of the personal representatives of a deceased person, or their rights or obligations as such.
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