工业4.0时代的第一次工业产权法大修--《德国专利法律之二次简化和现代化法》评述

The First Renovation of the Whole Protection of Industrial Property in the Era of Industry 4.0--A Commentary on the Second Act concerning the Simplification and Modernization of German Patent Law

距上一场法律大修十多年后,德国又迎来一次工业产权领域的整体性变革:2021年8月10日通过的《德国专利法律之二次简化和现代化法》对十部相关法律做了修订。本文首先介绍此次修法的背景,即工业4.0时代的到来,随后探讨修法的“深度”,即对三项核心修改做详细分析,包括专利侵权与无效诉讼间的协调、对停止侵权救济的比例原则限制与涉专利等诉讼中的商业秘密保护,最后呈现修法的“广度”,概述此次做出的其他重要修改,如对实用新型注销程序的灵活构建。

More than a decade after the Patent Law Modernization Act 2009,Germany decides to simplify and modernize its whole protection of industrial property again to cope with technological and economic changes during this period and passes the Second Patent Law Modernization Act 2021,which modifi es ten important laws in this fi eld.This article fi rstly offers a brief introduction of Industry 4.0 as background of the Act 2021.In the second part,a detailed analysis of three crucial modifi cations brought by the Act is conducted in order to show the depth of this revision,they are the synchronization of infringement and nullity proceedings,the restriction of injunctive relief after a proportionality test and the protection of trade secret in procedures.Finally,an overview of other significant changes caused by the Act is provided,for example the reform of the utility model cancellation proceedings,which presents the full scope of the modifi cation.