Absolute or Conditional Protection of Patented Research Tools? A Review of Approaches in Iranian, German and U.S Patent Law

One of the basic matters in discussing the experimental use as an exception to patent rights is defining the subject of it. A criterion used in this regard is making a distinction between experiments done with a commercial purpose and the ones done with a non-commercial one. This approach has already been discussed in Iranian legal literature. Another approach, however, is differentiating between experimenting "on" an invention and experiments done "with" the help of a patented invention.
Traditionally, it is accepted in most legal systems that the subject of the exception is experimenting "on" the subject-matter of the invention. However, with the fast growth of some fields of science such as biotechnology, there are innovations developed which could be patented as an invention on one hand, and used as a tool for carrying other researches out on the other hand. With this new development, the possibility of extending the exception to include experimentations done "with" the use of such research tools has been put into question.
In the current research, the German and U.S. legal systems are comparatively studied with the Iranian one. The results show that although some patent scholars believe that at least universities and non-profit organizations should be exempted from infringement liability in this regard, the case law of these systems shows no acceptance of extending the exception to such experimentation but rather is in search for other solutions.