美國法專利權濫用理論對我國法之啓示

Abstract

專利權人之權利若過度膨脹，專利權人將得以利用專利制度作為提昇自己市場獨占力量，並且抑制市場競爭的工具，為了畫下專利權人正當行使權利之界限，維護專利制度的政策目的，美國的法制遂逐漸發展出專利權濫用理論（Patent Misuse Doctrine）。經過數十年以來的演進，美國法實務累積了大量有關專利權濫用的案\\r例，美國法之專利權濫用理論創設之初係為了限制輔助侵權理論之適用，因此該理論最初與競爭法制並無交集，判斷的重點在於專利權人是否逾越其權限，之後隨著1988 年美國專利法之修正，以及學理實務的改變，現今專利權濫用的認定已牽涉競爭法「合理原則」之判斷，然而，許多爭議也逐漸浮現，例如在具體個案當中如何判斷專利權人之行為是否成立濫用，甚至專利權濫用原則本身是否仍有必要存在，這些問題都尚待解決，因此現今正是對專利權濫用理論進行全面檢討之時機。本文以下將提出專利權濫用理論值得檢討之處，並對於實務上包裹授權、價格操縱、競業禁止協議等個案中之專利權濫用問題提出觀察。本文將嘗試指出專利權濫用理論兼具專利制度和競爭法制之特質，也反映了兩者間之衝突，其亦具有能夠與時俱進，以及反映專利制度政策公益之特質，因此仍有繼續存在之價值。此外，更可以考慮以我國民法第148 條所規範之誠信原則作為將專利權濫用理論引入我國法之基礎，而在尚未引入以前，專利權濫用理論亦可作為實務操作專利法第60 條、公平交易法第18 條及第19 條等規定時之指導原則。

If the patentee excessively expands his patent right, the patentee would be able to manipulate the patent system as a mean to increase his own monopoly power and suppress competition in the market. In order to prevent the abuse of patent rights and protect patent policy, the patent misuse doctrine has evolved from U.S. common law. Over decades of development, a great amount of patent misuse cases accumulated in legal practice. The patent misuse doctrine was initially designed to limit the overexpansion of the contributory infringement theory and has no relationship with competition law. The essential factor to constitute patent misuse is that the patentee extends the patent monopoly over the statutory scope of his patent right. Nevertheless, in pace with the Patent Misuse Reform Act of 1988 and the conversion of the legal practice, the patent misuse doctrine has begun to intertwine with competition law’s “rule of reason” analysis. Gradually, many disputes have emerged such as how to determine whether the patentee’s behavior constitutes patent misuse in specific * MBA Graduate Institute of Intellectual Property, National Chengchi University; legal intern, Ho, Pan-Chao Law Firm. 美國法專利權濫用理論對我國法之啟示5 cases, or whether the patent misuse doctrine itself is necessary to exist. Therefore, it is high time to conduct a comprehensive review of the patent misuse theory. This article will review the theoretical basis of the patent misuse doctrine, and provide insights to patent misuse issues in cases with regard to package licensing, price fixing, and non-competition agreements. This article will also submit that the patent misuse doctrine is a doctrine which both has characteristics of patent law and competition law and can compromise the interests of these two bodies of regulations. It can also reflect patent policy and grow and change with time. Therefore, it is a doctrine which should continue to exist. In addition, the principle of good faith which is encoded in article 148 of the Civil Code may be a medium to introduce the patent misuse doctrine into our legal system. Even if it is not yet introduced into our system, the patent misuse doctrine can be the guiding principle for legal practitioners to apply article 60 of the Patent Act, article 18 and article 19 of the Fair Trade Act.