Definitions of compulsory licence
a licence (=official permission to do something) created by statute that allows certain parties to use either copyrighted material or a patented invention without the permission of the copyright or patent owner, in return for the payment of a royalty (=a payment to someone such as a writer or musician each time that something they have created is sold or used)
India granted the first ever compulsory licence in 2012 when it allowed Natco Pharma to make a generic version of Bayer's cancer drug.
a situation where an individual or a company can use another's intellectual property without first getting the owner's permission. Compulsory licences are especially common in relation to pharmaceutical patents.
India negotiated a compulsory licence, allowing local companies to produce generic copies of foreign drugs for domestic use.