美国《人类专利法案》解析及启示

Analysis and Enlightenment of the U.S.Patents for Humanity Act

涉及人道主义方面的发明创造主要涵盖医疗卫生、能源、环境等领域,此类发明由于技术开发难度大,研发成本高,审查周期也较长。面对涉及人道主义的发明创造,如何进一步提高审查效率与改进审查质量,是各国专利行政机关的工作重点。2022年12月,美国制定了《人类专利法案》。该法案的前身为美国专利商标局已经实施多年的“人类专利计划”,法案将“人类专利计划”写入法律,并确立了一项名为“授予证书以加快专利商标局的特定事项”的机制,以奖励那些使用发明与创新解决相关全球人道主义挑战的创新者。我国一直致力于为全球人道主义事业建设做出贡献,在专利领域出台了不少回应人道主义问题的政策。未来,我国可考虑加强专利优先审查制度中有关人道主义问题的规定,并通过设立人道主义专利奖励等方式,以激励涉及人道主义的专利创新。

The fields of inventions and creations involving humanitarian aspects mainly cover healthcare,energy,environment,etc.Such inventions have a long examination period due to the difficulty of technology development and high R&D costs.In the face of inventions and creations involving humanitarian aspects,how to further improve the efficiency and quality of examination is the focus of the work of patent administration authorities in various countries.The Act,formerly known as the"Human Patent Program"which had been implemented by the USPTO for many years,enshrined the"Human Patent Program"in law and established a program called"Granting Certificates to Expedite Patent The Act enshrines the Human Patent Program in law and establishes a mechanism called the"Grant of Certificates to Expedite Certain Matters before the Patent and Trademark Office"to reward innovators who use inventions and innovations to solve relevant global humanitarian challenges.Our country has been contributing to the building of global humanitarian causes,and has introduced many policies in the field of patents in response to humanitarian issues.In the future,it is necessary for China to improve the provisions on humanitarian issues in the patent priority examination system and to establish humanitarian patent awards,etc.