In general, compulsory licensing refers to special situations in
which the subject matter of a patent is licensed by compulsion,
without the authorization of the patentee, for use by the
government or third parties authorized by the government. This type
of licence is contrary to the general spirit of a patent grant
where a patent owner, by giving the public a clear, complete, and
enabling disclosure of the invention, is granted in exchange
certain exclusive rights in practising the invention. Such
unauthorized uses are naturally considered, from the patent owner's
perspective, to be outside the scope of the original bargain. The
governments of many countries in the world, however, allow some
form of compulsory licence to prevent abuses of patent rights or
for the public good.
China is not known to be an active granter of compulsory
licences, and the old Patent Law contained provisions mirroring
some of the restrictive conditions of Article 31. However, in order
to increase inventors' confidence in the Chinese patent system and
the system's compliance level with the TRIPs Agreement, the old
provisions on compulsory licences were further amended to afford
patentees more protection.