浅谈欧洲专利创造性审查标准变化对我国医药领域审查的借鉴意义

The Enlightenment for China Inventive Examination in Pharmaceutical Field Based on Changes of EPO Inventive Standards

欧洲是全球公认的医药产业强国,拥有众多知名药企,医药领域的发明专利申请量占相当大的份额。根据欧洲近10年来申请量、授权量等数据的分析可知,虽然在提高创造性审查标准的开始几年间,医药领域的申请总量、授权总量都有小幅度降低,但随后是保持稳定增长态势。在发明专利创造性判断时,欧洲专利局上诉委员会通常应用"问题-解决"方法。本文通过分析欧洲专利法中相关创造性判断标准的变迁规律及原因,期望对我国医药领域创造性的审查和评判提供一些启示和借鉴。

Pharmaceutical industry of Europe is famous in the world, with many well-known pharmaceutical companies, and pharmaceutical patent applications accounted for a considerable share. According to the analysis of the number of applications and patents in the pharmaceutical field in Europe over the past 10 years, although the number decreased slightly in the beginning of improving inventive examination standards, then steady increasing has been maintained. In the patent inventive step examination, the European Patent Office Appeals Board usually apply the ＂problem-solving＂ approach. This paper analyzes the changes and causes of the inventive examination standards in the European Patent Law, and hopes to provide enlightenment and suggestion for the inventive step examination in pharmaceutical field in China.