中国专利制度急需根本性变革

魏衍亮

国家知识产权局

   

    专利制度是双面刃，可能促进经济发展、科技进步，也可能被滥用，成为阻碍经济发展、科技进步的主要法律工具之一。由于学者大都不了解专利申请、诉讼情况，后一问题很少有学者关注。不过，从目前的趋势看，这个问题正日益严重，可能成为全面变革中国专利制度的导火索。

    一、中国国内专利申请绝大部分为不需实质审查的实用新型、外观设计

    美国的专利全部实行实质审查。我国则大部分专利不审查，交了就批。我国这两种专利不审查新颖性、创造性，也不审查是否充分公开了相关技术方案。因此，只要提交而且文件格式符合要求，就会授权发证。发证后，这两类专利同样可以控告他人侵权，而且法院现在一般不中止审理。这两类专利存在大量的公知技术复活现象，也是个人敲诈企业、企业搞不正当竞争的主要工具之一。

    In China, most local governments will sponsor those applying for a patent. By submitting a patent application, the applicant could earn much money. Therefore more and more people are applying patent in China. For example, in 2005, the yearly number of patent applications accepted by the State Intellectual Property Office of China (SIPO) has exceeded that of the United States Patent and Trade Office (USPTO). Just as Figure 7 shows, China’s patent application is increasing much more rapidly than the United States.

   

    Figure 7. Patent applications accepted by USPTO and SIPO in the past five years

   

    However, most patent applications accepted by the SIPO aren’t inventions, but just utility models or designs, which are used to protect low-level innovations and need no substantial examination. Just as Figure 8 shows, the number of invention patent applications accepted by the SIPO is much less than that of the USPTO. On the other hand, Figure 9 shows the number of design patent applications accepted by the USPTO is much less than that of the SIPO.

   

    二、中国专利侵权案件数量居世界第一，而且比美国多出数倍

    由于授权的专利数量急剧增长，中国已经成为全球专利侵权纠纷最多的国家。专利纠纷已经成为困扰企业正常经营发展的最大法律羁绊。

    Among all developed countries, the United States has the largest number of IP infringement cases. Even so, the annual average number of defendants sentenced for IP infringement offenses under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines is less than 200. Every year, the number of non-criminal cases related to IP theft filed in various authorities in the U.S. is generally less than 10 thousand. However, in China, the largest developing country, circumstances might be completely different. Just in 2005, China’s public security organs at various levels arrested more than 45 thousand suspects for IP infringement and people’s courts at various levels accepted 3,567 criminal cases at the first instance. The total number of non-criminal IP cases accepted by various authorities of China in 2005 is about 87,105 thousand.

   

    三、中国专利侵权纠纷中，约90%以上属于实用新型、外观设计专利纠纷

    这两种专利不需要实质审查，交了就授权。只要脑子好使，腿脚勤快，一个会CAD绘图、3-d Max绘图的人，每天可以设计、提交数百个外观设计专利申请，实用新型专利申请也很容易搞。中国绝大部分专利纠纷使用的就是这种没有经过新颖性、创造性审查的专利。因此，从道理上讲，随便搞一个别人正在用的技术申请个专利就可以授权，就可以控告别人侵权。

   

    In China, design rights are mainly protected by the Patent Law (1984) and the Anti Unfair Competition Law (1993).

    For example, in the former statute, section two of article 11 provides that “after the grant of the patent right for a design, no entity or individual may, without the authorization of the patentee, make or sell the product, incorporating its or his patented design, for production or business purposes.” Section three of the article provides that “after the grant of the patent right, except as otherwise provided for in the law, the patentee has the right to prevent any other person from importing, without its or his authorization, the patented product,” for the uses mentioned in the preceding paragraph. According to statistics of the State Intellectual Property Office of China, about 43.8% to 53.3% of all those patent disputes accepted by all administrative authorities at various levels are concerning protection of design patents. Figure 24 gives the distribution of the said patent cases according to types of patents from 2001 to 2005. A similar distribution could also be seen in judicial cases.

   

    Figure 24. Distribution of patent cases according to types of patents

       

    四、中国发明专利侵权纠纷中，仅约2%的案件属于故意侵权，实用新型、外观设计专利也不超过8%

   

    Deliberate or willful infringement will decrease. According to 2003 statistics of civil cases at the first instance, the percentage of cases involving deliberate or willful infringement is very small. For example, Figure 18 shows that just about 2% of all invention patent infringement cases arise from willful reengineering and technical piracy. In recent years, the overall percentage of cases involving deliberate or willful infringement is decreasing. As more and more Chinese companies have realized the importance of innovation and independent IPRs, deliberate or willful infringement will continue to decrease.

   

    Figure 18. Percentage of cases involving deliberate or willful infringement

       

    五、在中国，发起、参与专利侵权纠纷的成分很低

    美国专利诉讼很少，而且由于费用高昂、程序复杂，大约90%以上的案件和解，垃圾专利诉讼生存的空间很小。我国则完全相反，专利诉讼多，费用低廉，程序简单，大部分案件不和解，垃圾专利诉讼生存的空间很大。

    美国是普通法系联邦制国家，专利诉讼需要成文法，更需要依据大量的判例。美国的专利成文法主要是联邦议会制定的专利法，包含大量的法律规则可以被控辩双方使用，但是这些法规在我国并不存在。判例法上，不但包括联邦法院的判例，而且包括各州法院的判例。[Page]

    美国法院在适用判例法时，首先需要考虑空间范围，法院的判决只对本院和在本法院管辖范围内的下级法院构成先例。其次，必须区别适用的法律，适用联邦法律时，联邦最高法院的判决对全部联邦法院和州法院都构成先例；联邦法院在适用州法律时，必须遵守州法院确立的先例，且其所创立的判例也只在洲范围内适用。因此，美国律师接手案件后需要检索、研究大量的判例。和我国三五页一个判决书不同，美国的判例一般长达数十、数百页，从中提炼可以引用的判例法规则需要耗费大量的时间和专业技术劳动。

    此外，我国的程序简单，费用低廉。相反，美国的专利诉讼案件审理程序为诉状送达、答辩、证据披露与开示、开庭、判决。到证据披露与开示阶段，律师费用一般会超过100万美金。有的案件则数千万美金，甚至超过一亿美金。由于费用高昂，大约90％以上的专利诉讼案件会在“证据披露与证据开示”阶段达成和解协议，不再进入审理程序。

    总之，我国从国外借鉴的所谓专利制度，只是借鉴来一张皮，但是灵魂还没有借鉴过来。有中国特色的专利制度已经使很多优秀行业被垃圾专利所摧毁。有很多优秀企业正被大量的垃圾专利诉讼所困扰。我国企业不可能长期忍气吞声地宽容、善待这个专利制度。不用多久，全面批判现有专利制度的思潮会汹涌而起。

    建设创新型国家的基本专利出路不是增加专利申请，更不是加强专利保护，而是提高专利制度的效率，避免专利制度成为个人敲诈企业、企业搞不正当竞争的工具。

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