I originally signed a patent licensing contract with a company and paid the patent royalties. Later, the patent was declared invalid. Can I request a refund?

Q: I originally signed a patent licensing contract with a company and paid the patent royalties. Later, the patent was declared invalid. Can I request the other party to return the patent royalties?

Answer: Juntong Legal Online Consulting will give you the answer

Patent right is a kind of property right. Therefore, anyone who wants to implement the patent right should pay patent royalties to the patentee. . Of course, in practice, there are also cases where the patentee does not charge royalties through cross-licensing with others. Patent royalties refer to the fees paid by the licensee to the licensor (i.e. the patentee) for implementing the patentee's patent.

How to reasonably calculate patent royalties is a very important but also difficult issue in a licensing contract. The determination of patent royalties depends on many factors, which mainly include:

(1) The expenses incurred by the patentee in researching and developing the patent;

(2) The licensee’s use of the patent The economic benefits that can be obtained;

(3) The type of patent license, the type and duration of the implementation behavior;

(4) The method and time for the licensee to pay royalties.

It should be noted that excessively high patent licensing fees are not conducive to the promotion and application of technology, and also hinder the realization of effective market competition. Therefore, excessively high patent licensing fees are no longer legal. monopolistic behavior. Countries around the world apply antitrust laws to regulate this kind of monopolistic abuse of power.