Patent Filing Prosecution and Maintenance 7.1 Except as otherwise provided in this Article 7, the IC agrees to take responsibility for, but to consult with, the Licensee in the preparation, filing, prosecution, and maintenance of any and all patent applications or patents included in the Licensed Patent Rights and shall furnish copies of relevant patent-related documents to the Licensee.
7.2 Upon the IC’s written request, the Licensee shall assume the responsibility for the preparation, filing, prosecution, and maintenance of any and all patent applications or patents included in the Licensed Patent Rights and shall, on an ongoing basis, promptly furnish copies of all patent-related documents to the IC. In this event, the Licensee shall, subject to the prior approval of the IC, select registered patent attorneys or patent agents to provide these services on behalf of the Licensee and the IC. The IC shall provide appropriate powers of attorney and other documents necessary to undertake this action to the patent attorneys or patent agents providing these services. The Licensee and its attorneys or agents shall consult with the IC in all aspects of the preparation, filing, prosecution and maintenance of patent applications and patents included within the Licensed Patent Rights and shall provide the IC sufficient opportunity to comment on any document that the Licensee intends to file or to cause to be filed with the relevant intellectual property or patent office.
7.3 At any time, the IC may provide the Licensee with written notice that the IC wishes to assume control of the preparation, filing, prosecution, and maintenance of any and all patent applications or patents included in the Licensed Patent Rights. If the IC elects to reassume these responsibilities, the Licensee agrees to cooperate fully with the IC, its attorneys, and agents in the preparation, filing, prosecution, and maintenance of any and all patent applications or patents included in the Licensed Patent Rights and to provide the IC with complete copies of any and all documents or other materials that the IC deems necessary to undertake such responsibilities. The Licensee shall be responsible for all costs associated with transferring patent prosecution responsibilities to an attorney or agent of the IC’s choice.
7.4 Each party shall promptly inform the other as to all matters that come to its attention that may affect the preparation, filing, prosecution, or maintenance of the Licensed Patent Rights and permit each other to provide comments and suggestions with respect to the preparation, filing, prosecution, and maintenance of the Licensed Patent Rights, which comments and suggestions shall be considered by the other party.
Patent Filings (a) Each Party, at its own cost, shall prepare, file, prosecute and maintain Patents to cover inventions made solely by its own employees or consultants relating to Substance, the Drug Substance, the Drug Product or the Product in the Field (“Inventions”) and shall use Commercially Reasonable Efforts to file initially all such applications in and outside the Territory. If either Party elects not to file, prosecute, or maintain any such Patent in any country, it shall give the other Party notice of this election within a reasonable period prior to allowing such Patent to lapse, become abandoned or become unenforceable, and prior to taking any steps which would render such an Invention unpatentable and assign all rights in this Patent related to such country to the other Party allowing this other Party to file, prosecute, and maintain this Patent in such country. Schering shall have the right to file, prosecute and maintain Joint Patents and to determine the countries in which to file Joint Patents, provided that, in all cases, Schering shall reasonably consult and cooperate with Exhale in connection therewith. Schering shall have the right to direct and control all material actions relating to the prosecution or maintenance of these Joint Patents in any country, including correspondence with patent authorities (Schering’s address being named for services), interference proceedings, reexaminations, reissue, opposition and revocation proceedings. If either Party elects not to participate in any such Joint Patent or to quit its participation therein, it shall give notice of this election to the other Party and assign all rights in this Joint Patent to the other Party allowing this Party to file, prosecute and maintain this Joint Patent as being such Party’s solely owned Patent. Each Party shall keep the other informed of all actions taken under this Section 11.3, and provide to the other Party all necessary declarations and cooperate with the other Party to enable Patents or Joint Patents to be issued or transferred. This Section 11.3 (a) shall survive the termination of this Agreement for any reason.
(b) The Parties agree to use Commercially Reasonable Efforts to ensure that any Patent or Joint Patent (on an Invention or Joint Invention) filed outside of the U.S. prior to filing in the U.S. will be in a form sufficient to establish the date of original filing as a priority date for the purposes of a subsequent filing in the U.S. The Parties agree to use Commercially Reasonable Efforts to ensure that any Patent or Joint Patent (on an Invention or Joint Invention) filed in the U.S. prior to filing outside the U.S. will be in a form sufficient to establish the date of original filing as a priority date for the purpose of a subsequent filing in any contracting state of the Paris Convention.
(c) License Grant. All Inventions by Schering employees or consultants and Schering’s rights in all Joint Inventions relating to the Substance, Drug Substance, Drug Product and/or Product in the Field and the Territory shall be subject to the licenses granted to Exhale in Articles II and VI (as applicable) of this Agreement. Exhale shall grant to Schering a royalty-free, exclusive, sub-licensable license to use these Inventions and any Patents resulting therefrom in connection with the Product in the Field outside the Territory. Furthermore, Exhale shall grant to Schering a royalty-free, exclusive, sub-licensable license to use any Know-how generated by Exhale under this Agreement relating to the Product in the Field in connection with the Product in the Field outside the Territory.
Patent Prosecution 6.1 UNIVERSITY has or shall apply for and seek prompt issuance of and maintain during the term of this Agreement the PATENT RIGHTS in the United States and in such foreign countries as may be designated by LICENSEE in a written notice to UNIVERSITY within a reasonable time in advance of the required foreign filing dates. LICENSEE shall have the opportunity to advise and cooperate with UNIVERSITY in the prosecution, filing and maintenance of such patents. If UNIVERSITY decides to abandon the preparation, filing, prosecution or maintenance of any patent or patent application covered by the PATENT RIGHTS, then UNIVERSITY shall provide written notice to LICENSEE, and LICENSEE shall have the right at its sole expense to assume control of the preparation, filing, prosecution and maintenance of such patent application or patent. If LICENSEE no longer wishes to support the prosecution or maintenance of any patent or patent application covered by the PATENT RIGHTS, then LICENSEE shall provide written notice to UNIVERSITY, and LICENSEE shall not be responsible for such corresponding patent expenses that are incurred subsequent to the date of receipt by UNIVERSITY of such written notice by LICENSEE; such returned patent or patent application shall be excluded from the PATENT RIGHTS. LICENSEE shall notify UNIVERSITY immediately if, at any time during the term of this Agreement, LICENSEE or any of its sublicensees does not qualify as a “Small Entity” as provided by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
6.2 All fees and costs including attorneys’ fees relating to the filing, prosecution and maintenance of the PATENT RIGHTS whether incurred prior to or after the EFFECTIVE DATE of this Agreement shall be the responsibility of LICENSEE. LICENSEE shall not be required to reimburse the UNIVERSITY for any fees under this section that have been paid to the UNIVERSITY by prior licensees or any other third party. Fees and costs shall be paid by LICENSEE within thirty (30) days after receipt of UNIVERSITY’S invoice therefore. Payments pursuant to this Section 6.2 are not creditable against royalties.
6.3 LICENSEE shall own any new patent application, and any patent that issues therefrom, or new technology in the SLE FIELD developed independently of the UNIVERSITY and UNIVERSITY employees and shall not owe the UNIVERSITY any fee or royalty under section 4 relating to such a new patent application, and any patent that issues therefrom, or new technology.
Patents and Patent Applications To the Company’s knowledge, all patents and patent applications owned by or licensed to the Company or under which the Company has rights have been duly and properly filed and maintained; to the knowledge of the Company, the parties prosecuting such applications have complied with their duty of candor and disclosure to the USPTO in connection with such applications; and the Company is not aware of any facts required to be disclosed to the USPTO that were not disclosed to the USPTO and which could reasonably be expected to preclude the grant of a patent in connection with any such application or could reasonably be expected to form the basis of a finding of invalidity with respect to any patents that have issued with respect to such applications.
Patent Applications It is understood by the parties that, pursuant to the Baylor Technology Transfer Agreement, MAS has the initial responsibility for filing, prosecution and maintenance of Patents and Patent Applications covering the Baylor Technology. The parties agree that, as between MAS and IllumeSys, MAS shall be responsible for deciding whether and how to file, prosecute and maintain the Patents and Patent Applications, provided that:
