The compulsory licensing provisions of the Patents Act, 1992, pre-dated the harmonised TRIPs rules for such licenses. A wholesale revision of sections 70, 71 and 73 has now been carried out. The most important of the changes are:

• Previously a compulsory licence was available on the grounds that the demand for the invention was being met primarily through importation. Now, as long as the patentee is meeting demand for the invention either by manufacture in Ireland or by importation from a WTO country, no compulsory licence can be granted.
• Previously compulsory licences could be sought on the grounds that an export market was not being satisfied by the patentee. As a result of TRIPs, such licences can no longer be granted, since compulsory licences are only available in any WTO country to satisfy a demand in that country itself.
• The law provided, before the current revision, that special public interest considerations had to be taken into account in setting a royalty rate where a compulsory licence was granted for a food or medicine.  Because of the TRIPs requirement of equal treatment for all fields of technology, that provision no longer applies.
• Before applying for a compulsory licence the Patentee must first be approached seeking a licence on reasonable terms.
• Compulsory licences can now be assigned along with the goodwill of the business to which the licence relates.