论方法专利的延伸保护范围  

On the Extended Protection for Process Patents

作　　者：何怀文[1] He Huaiwen(Guanghua Law School,Zhejiang University,Hangzhou 310008,China)

机构地区：[1]浙江大学光华法学院,浙江杭州310008

出　　处：《浙江大学学报（人文社会科学版）》2023年第10期69-88,共20页Journal of Zhejiang University:Humanities and Social Sciences

基　　金：国家社科基金项目(18BFX161)。

摘　　要：方法专利的延伸保护不是专利权内容之延伸,而是方法专利保护客体范围之延伸。确定延伸保护范围既应公平保护专利权人的利益,又应兼顾公众的合理信赖利益。为此,延伸保护范围应当根据权利要求判定“依照专利方法”,限定于实体产品制造方法专利,不应适用于“数字产品”。同时,应当根据比例原则判定依照专利方法“直接获得的产品”,区分新产品制造方法专利与现有产品制造方法专利,使延伸保护范围与专利方法的创新程度相匹配。对现有产品制造方法专利,其延伸保护只应及于原始获得产品;对新产品制造方法专利,其延伸保护范围不仅应及于依照专利方法原始获得的产品,还应及于经过处理之后仍区别于现有产品的后续制得产品。It is widely accepted that rights conferred on a process patent should not be limited to such process but extended to the products directly obtained by such process.The extended protection is stipulated in Article 28 entitled“Rights Conferred”of the Agreement on Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights(TRIPS).However,WTO members differ in its application.The Supreme Court of People’s Court insists that“product directly obtained from a process patent”is the original product produced from such process(hereafter“original product test”).Germany and UK courts apply the“loss of identity test”,namely,a product could be obtained directly from a claimed process despite further processing if there is no loss of identity.US patent law provides that a product made by a patented process is protected except that it is materially changed by subsequent processes(hereafter“material change test”)or becomes a trivial and nonessential component of another product(hereafter“trivial component test”).It is misleading that the extended protection is subsumed under“rights conferred on a patent”,as in Article 28 of TRIPS,Article 63 of European Patent Convention and Article 11 in Chinese Patent Law.Indeed,it is the scope of protection of subject matter of a process patent—as defined in a process claim—that is extended from such process to the product obtained from it.As such,the extended protection is an exception to the generally accepted principle that the scope of protection for a patent is determined by the claims.Accordingly,rights conferred on a process patent is composed of rights conferred on the claimed process and rights conferred on the extended subject matter—the product obtained directly from such process.Consequently,the scope of extended protection should be governed by the same principle for scope of protection for a patent.It should combine fair protection for the patent proprietor with a reasonable degree of legal certainty for the third parties.To guarantee a

关 键 词：延伸保护 专利产品 权利要求 比例原则 新产品 现有产品 

分 类 号：D92[政治法律—法学]