最优专利长度与宽度设计研究

Research on optimal patent length and breadth design

专利制度在授予专利权人垄断权利的同时 ,必然会产生专利权人享有垄断期限的长短和垄断程度的大小问题 ,前者即专利长度 ,而后者是专利宽度的问题。专利长度是专利受到法律保护的年限 ,专利宽度的定义多种多样 ,我们把专利宽度定义为政府对专利保护的严厉程度。如何设计最优的专利长度与宽度以使全社会的净福利达到最大化 ,以及设计何种专利保护方向以平衡专利权人、模仿者以及社会公众的利益 ,是本文将要讨论的主题。

When the monopoly power of the patentee is awarded by the patent system, two problems will be brought by it, namely, the periods in which the patentee holds the patent and the extent to which the patent monopolizes. The former is the patent length and the latter is the patent breadth. Patent length is the fixed number of year that the patent is protected by law. We define patent breadth as the severe extent protected by the government. The purpose of the paper is to design the optimal patent length and patent breadth to maximize the net welfare of the whole society and to design the patent to balance the interests among the patentees, imitators and the social publics. We can draw the conclusion from this paper that the optimal design may be broad and short-lived or narrow and infinitely-lived depending on the characteristics of the social net welfare function.