扩张还是限制?——从美国专利判例法的演变趋势看我国专利法修改

Expansion or Restriction: on the Fourth Modification of Patent Act from the Viewpoint of the Shift of Patent Law of the United States

进入21世纪后,美国各级联邦法院在专利方面的判例出现新的趋向。Bilski案判决对方法类可专利主题的限缩和KSR案判决对非显而易见性标准的收紧,说明专利授权条件趋于严格化。而eBay案对永久性禁令适用转趋谨慎的态度和Lucent案控制侵权赔偿数额的努力,说明专利侵权责任趋于缓和化。判例法的上述变化标志着自20世纪80年代以来的专利扩张周期行将结束,美国专利法可能处于从扩张转为限缩的拐点。美国的法制实践对我们不无启示:专利保护的重心在于司法,我国当务之急是提高专利审判的司法能力和改善外部法制环境。以修法方式系统性地提高专利保护水平,则应缓行。

The patent case law of the Federal Circuit of the U. S. A. appears the new trend in 21st century. It demonstrates the standard of patentability stricter for the judgment of the Biliski case to limit the patentable subject matter and for the judgment of the KSR case to shrink the standard of nonobviousness. It demonstrates the liability against infringement lighter for the judgment of the eBay case to become cautious in applying the injunction and for the judgment of the Lucent case to rein in the restitutionary damages. The change in case law indicates that the expansion cycle of patent law since the 1980s is over, and the U. S. A. patent law is at an inflection point. The experience of U. S. A gives us such enlightment： Judiciary is at the core of patent protection. It has become an urgent matter at the moment to promote judicial ability and improve legal environment. It should be suspended to raise the level of patent protection systematically in the way of amending the law.