Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

work, vb

1. To exert effort; to perform, either physically or mentally <lawyers work long hours during trial>. 2. To function properly; to produce a desired effect <the strategy worked>. 3. Patents. To develop and commercially exploit (the invention covered by a patent) <the patent owner failed to work the patent>. "A patentee has the exclusive right to make, use, or sell the invention. 35 U.S.C.A. § 154. The right includes the right to refrain from making, using, or selling the invention. In many foreign countries, the inventor is obliged to 'work' the patent and if he does not do so, he can be required to grant a compulsory license to others who wish to exploit the invention. But an American patentee is under no such duty, although there are antitrust implications involved in the failure to work a patent." Arthur R. Miller & Michael H. Davis, Intellectual Property in a Nutshell 128-29 (2d ed. 1990).