Introduction to Patent System

Patent ：專利、特許Monopoly ：專賣、獨占

Letters patent ：專賣權證書

Why should we know the patent system?

• Introduce research workers in the biological sciences to the subject of patents so that they may communicate more readily with those professionally engaged in the law and practice of patents.

• This communication will most often be with patent agents and attorneys, sometimes with patent counsel, and occasionally with patent office examiners, higher officials of boards of appeal, and judges in patent courts.

Problems between biological scientists and the patent system

• Research workers prefer to think of themselves as good scientists rather than inventors.

• Invention and good plain science are not the same thing.

• Biological inventions are often difficult to fit into the simple framework of nineteenth century physics and chemistry which supports some of our basic concepts of patent law.

• For some inventors the rules of the game are tedious and inhibitory and are not justified by the results the patent system offers.

Fact

• The writing of any patent and the creation of a patent situation requires the combined skills of the inventor and the patent draftsman and tactician.

Intellectual property (IP)

• The law will grant new ideas, designs, processes, products, devices and apparatus a property right and offer the author, designer, or inventor a measure of legal protection against imitation and copying.

• Like other forms of property it can be bought and sold or licensed to use.

• It covers patents, designs, trade-marks (industrial property) and copyright (artistic and industrial copyright)

• The concept of trade secret is outside the statute law of industrial property. Trade secrets usually come under the common law of fiduciary relationships.

• The rights conferred by industrial properties are not automatic. A registration system is established by statute law in all these fields.

Brief description of patents

• Patents are rights granted in respect of inventions capable of industrial application.

• The patent right is a right of exclusion and is divorced from the positive right of making or doing anything.

• Freedom to use the invention by the patentee may be affected by other laws and other patent rights.

• It is possible to obtain plant patents in some territories, e.g. USA, but new plant varieties are more often the subject of legal protection granted under plant variety rights which is restricted to the commercial exploitation of the reproductive material of the plant.

Brief description of designs

• Designs are concerned primarily with features of shape and ornamentation applied to articles.

• They are of little interest to the biological scientist.

Brief description of trade-mark

• Trade-mark is a mark used by a manufacturer or trader to distinguish his goods from similar goods of other firms.

• It is of enormous commercial value once a reputation and public demand for the goods has been established.

Brief description of copyright

• Copyright arises spontaneously when the work is created.

• It protects only against actual copying, but not duplication of ideas and efforts.

工業財產權的特性 • 專有性或排他性：權利人享有對這些無形財產享有佔有、使用、收益和支配的權利。其他人未經權利人許可，不得利用此權利 ( 不得製造、使用、販賣 ) 。由於這種權利是專有的，同樣的發明只能授予一次專利權。

• 地域性：權利人享有的權利，只有在核准該權利所屬的領土有效。美國的專利在中國領土上無效。英國專利須在香港註冊總署註冊登記後在香港才有效。（ 1997 年香港回歸中國）

• 時間性：除商標可依法延展外，專利權都有一定的期限 ( 一般 16 到 20 年 ) 。法律規定的期限屆滿以後，工業財產權即告終止，任何人均可使用其保護的客體。

Justification of the patent system

• Encourages disclosure as against secrecy • Encourages investment in research • Encourages investment in production and marketing

of new products• Provides a framework in which industrial competition

is carried on fairly and in accordance with the law• Provides a framework in which technology transfer

can be regularized between industrial firms

What does a patentee get?

• The single purpose of a patent is to set up a prohibited area from which competitors are excluded other than by the express consent of the patent owner.

• Possession of a valid and strong patent gives its owner nothing more than the opportunity to exploit the invention in a privileged manner and to obtain commercial benefits and other positive rewards by his own actions.

Whether patent rights or know-how is more important?

• It is a fundamental requirement that a patent specification contains a sufficient disclosure, but it is not reasonable to expect it to contain the fullness of teaching which would enable a third party to set up manufacture without the necessity for a substantial amount of development work.

• When a patentee or a licensee begins operations for the practical industrial exploitation of any invention the know-how element is of prime importance.

• The possession of patent rights or the right to a license comes into its own at the later stage when competitors and imitators appear on the scene.

What can they do if a research group working for an industrial concern discovers that a

particular patent held by a competitive firm presents an obstacle to its own commercial

developments?

• Seek evidence to invalidate the patent• Research into ways of avoiding the patent• Build up through their own research and patent

holdings a position of strength from which to negotiate a license from the competitor

Irritants arose from the inventors

• Be reticent about the nature of the discovery before steps can be taken to protect the invention / strict imperative against premature publication

• Do sufficient work on the invention to enable a sufficient content of practical teaching in specification to justify the grant of rights to protect the full breadth of the inventive possibilities / sufficiently full discussion with a competent patent agent

• Have to endure from the patent office examiner / objections raised based on prior publications / variable attitude to what is justly patentable / commit the time and effort asked to assist the patent agent in coping with official objections

Historical background of patent system: The beginning

• The first recorded patent is granted in 1421 in Florence to the architect and engineer Filippo Brunelleschi. A three-year monopoly on the manufacture of a barge with hoisting gear used to transport marble.

• The first patent statute was enacted in Venice in 1474. It rewarded the person who introduced new technology into Venice by giving him a 10-year monopoly over it.

Historical background of patent system: The spreading

• In England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) the crown granted letters patent not only to inventors of new devices, but also to importers of foreign manufacturing techniques and to developers of new industries and colonial possessions.

• The Congress passed the first U.S. Patent Statute in 1790.

• France enacted its patent system in 1791.

Historical background of patent system: The prototype

• The successors to Elizabeth, James I and Charles I, extended the practice by granting monopolies to favorites of the court, particularly those to whom the crown owed political debts. They even granted their friends monopolistic control over many basic necessities of life such as salt and sugar.

• In 1623, during the reign of James, the English Parliament enacted the Statute of Monopolies. Although it prohibited most royal monopolies, it specially reserved the right to grant letters patent to the true and first inventor of a new manufacture or the first one to introduce a new manufacturing technique into the realm for up to 14 years. This act was the prototype of modern patent statutes.

Historical background of patent system: The North America - 1

• In North America the colonies conferred patents on individual inventors of new and useful techniques or devices. The first patent issued on the American continent was granted by the Massachusetts General Court to Samuel Winslow, in 1641, for a novel method of producing salt.

• The Constitutional Convention held in Philadelphia in 1787. “The Congress shall have power…to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries” (Art. I, Sec. 8)

Historical background of patent system: The North America - 2

• The U.S.A.: On Apr. 10, 1790, Congress enacted a patent law that established a board for the granting of patents. ( 美國首部專利法 )

• Originally a part of the State Department, the patent office became a distinct bureau within that department with the naming of a superintendent of patents in 1802.

• New procedures for the granting of patents were enacted by the Patent Act of 1836. ( 修改審查制度，奠立美國現代化專利制度之基礎 )

Historical background of patent system: The North America - 3

• In 1849 the patent office was transferred to the Department of Interior.

• The patent office was put under the Department of Commerce in 1925. / The patent office was renamed as the Patent & Trademark Office (PTO , 專利商標局 )

Historical background of patent system: 中華民國 - 1

• 最早的專利制度【獎勵工藝品章程】從清朝開始。• 民國 33 年 5 月 29 日國民政府公佈中國歷史上第一部名為專利法之法規，並於民國 38 年 1 月施行。

• 民國 48 年 1 月 22 日、民國 49 年 5 月 12 日、民國 68 年 4 月 16 日、民國 75 年 12 月 24 日總統令修正公佈共四次。

Historical background of patent system: 中華民國 - 2

• 第五次修正於民國 83 年 1 月 21 日公佈，修正原因有三個： (1) 改善行政上窒礙難行或不合時宜的規定， (2) 配合關稅暨貿易總協定與智慧財產權相關議題最終協議草案之規定 (1986 年經美、日、歐運作及在 GATT 多邊架構下，開始討論智慧財產權的問題；經過數年談判， 1991 年底各國對 IPR 的保護達成共識，發佈 TRIPs 協議草案，規範各國對 IPR 所應提供的最低保護標準 ) ， (3) 我國一方面為了要加入 GATT ，另一方面因為在民國81 年我國被美國列為 301 條款優先國家，當年 6月草簽瞭解備忘錄，其中我國同意要依照 TRIPs水準修正專利法。

Historical background of patent system: 中華民國 - 3

• 第六次修正於民國 86 年 5 月 7 日總統令修正公布，91 年 1 月 1 日施行。

• 第七次修正於民國 90 年 10 月 24 日總統令修正公布。

• 第八次修正於民國 92 年 1 月 3 日立法院三讀通過，92 年 2 月 6 日總統令修正公布，除第十一條自公布日施行外，其餘條文之施行日期，由行政院定之。 行政院 92 年 3 月 31 日號令施行。

• 現行專利法http://www.tipo.gov.tw/patent/patent_law/patent_law_6.asp

Historical background of patent system: 中華人民共和國

• 最早仿效蘇聯 (the Soviet Union) 的制度，發給發明人證書，給予獎章。

• 1985 年公佈全新的專利法，仿效歐洲國家的法律，但專利權通常只授予公司或企業而不授予個人。

• 1992 年第一次修正。• 2000 年 8 月 25 日第二次修正， 2001 年 7 月 1 日生效。http://www.customs.gov.cn/YWStaticPage/433/b3cb3151.htm

有關美國專利申請的基本原則 • 先發明主義 (granting priority to the party who can pro

ve it was the first actually to invent) ：全球其他國家都採先申請主義 (grant the patent to the first to file the application)

• 優先權制度與暫時申請制度 (provisional application) ：暫時申請為一種國內優先權，可使申請人取得 12 個月的優先權期間。

• 專利權期間：在 1994 年以前，是自發證日起算共 17 年。現行則是自發證日起生效，至由申請日起算 20 年後終止。

• 自 2001 年 3 月中旬起，導入早期公開制度。凡發明及植物專利申請案在 2000 年 11 月 29 日或之後提出申請者，自申請日起滿 18 個月將會予以強制公開。

Evidence for establishing priority of invention• Accurate invention records of the entire

development of inventor’s idea (U.S. patent laws issue a patent to the first inventor): 1. regular (daily) entries in a bound notebook; 2. sketched out and described the first concept (preferably in the inventor’s handwriting) and entered subsequent modifications on succeeding pages; 3. made entries in ink or indelible pencil, no erasures but may crossed out errors, drawn a diagonal line through the unused portion before proceeding to the next page, dated and signed each pages by the inventor; 4. at least one witness, to whom the invention has been explained, should sign each complete entry

• The case of Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray (inventions of the telephone)

Prosecuting a patent application

• Patent attorney or patent agent: junior or senior• Cost• Period of time between the filing date of an

application and the issuance of a patent: ranging from 2 to 10 years in U.S. Patent Office

Filing patent application in different countries

• The International Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (originally adopted in Paris in 1883): use the first filing date in one member country for applications in other member states

• The 1970 Patent Cooperation Treaty simplifies the filing of same invention in different countries by providing centralized filing procedures and a standardized application format

• The European Patent Convention, implemented in 1977, created a European Patent Office that can issue a European patent

美國專利法之保護標的 • 發明專利：方法 (process, art, method)-包括醫療方法 / 機器 (machine)-包含裝置 (apparatus) 或用以執行某些結果或功能構造元件之組合 / 製造品 (article of manufacture)-包括人類工業技術所製造之物品 / 物之組成 (composition of matter)- 由兩個或多個物質混合而成 / 方法、機器或製造品之改良 (improvement) / 電腦軟體 / 化學品、食品、醫藥品、微生物、基因改造動物

• 植物專利：植物新品種• 新式樣 (design) 專利

專利要件 • 發明專利：新穎性 (novelty) ：絕對新穎性，美國專利法第 101 條。但 102 條有 reduce to practice 之要求，亦即發明之日為申請人實際成功完成其所請求之專利為準。 / 非顯著性 (非顯而易知性， non-obviousness, 又可稱為進步性 inventive step) ：美國專利法第 103 條，為獲准專利的最重要因素。 / 實用性 (usefulness, utility) ：能產生一定的機能，並具有最小限度的實用性，且並未違反法律的規定。

• 植物專利─植物新品種：顯著性 (distinctness) ：能與既存品種相互區別

• 新式樣 (design) 專利：裝飾性 (ornamentality) ：具有一定美感，不致造成他人之不快。

Working and licensing of an invention

• Many patent laws stipulate the patentee must manufacture the invention or license it to someone who will. / In the U.S., there is no requirement to work a patent (unless assigned by the inventor)

• A patented invention improved an existing and unexpired patent: cross-licensing agreement / The main patentee may be legally compelled to grant licenses to those who hold dependent patents / Companies holding patents may manage to form monopolies that affect entire fields of commerce. Antitrust suits brought by the government may force such companies to license those patents.

問題

• 專利體系對人類社會有何益處 ？• 請說明專利系統對工業微生物科技的影響 • 一種發明要獲得專利，至少應符合哪三種條件？ • 美國專利採取先發明主義的原因為何？ • 下列名詞的內涵： Intellectual property、 Patent、

Know-how

• 鍾順昌、廖啟成、陳玉芬，美國專利早期公開制度對生物科技專利的影響。http://pcm.tipo.gov.tw/PCM/pro_show.asp?sn=6