與山姆大叔的著作物貿易:從平行輸入,台美貿易與合理使用談起

Abstract

一國是否允許著作物的真品平行輸入，牽涉到該國在著作權之立法政策上是否允許著作權人享有散布權及輸入權，是否採取耗盡理論(exhaustion Doctrine)，以及所採用者究為「國際耗盡」、「國內耗盡」亦或「區域耗盡」而有不同。在美國三零一貿易報復的強大壓力下，我國於民國八十二年四月修正著作權時，明文禁止著作之真品平行輸入(著作權法第八十七條第四款)，只於相當有限的例外情形下(著作權法第八十七條之一)承認平行輸入的合法性，此舉無異於在未承認著作權人散佈權的情況下，先行創設了屬於散佈權能的輸入權；民國九十二年修正的著作權法為了矯正此矛盾立法，增訂散佈權(新法第二十八條之一)，採用國內耗盡理論對散佈權的範圍加以限制(新法第五十九條之一)，然而這樣的做法仍未徹底解決此問題，因為平行輸入物一般係由輸入者於國外合法取得，既然該著作物並非在國內取得，著作權人的散布權並未耗盡，輸入者仍須受民事與刑事追訴，加上司法實務上總將此纇平行輸入之著作重製物，視為「非法重製物」，因此縱使該輸入物係在國內取得後輸出國外再回銷回台灣，第三人亦無法依著作權法第六十條的例外規定而合法出租及散佈平行輸入物。

本文從平行輸入的形成、現行台灣著作權法對平行輸入的規範及其法源依據出發，探討立法過程中台美貿易政策所扮演的角色，禁止平行輸入對台美貿易的影響，以及此種立法對台灣與美國著作權產業的負面效果，進而比較國際公約與美國著作權法對於平行輸入的規定，觀察我國此種立法政策及司法運作是否妥適；本文另外也指出美國貿易法的三零一條款並未遵守WTO相關規定，而禁止平行輸入也可能反被其他WTO會員國認為是不當的貿易障礙，另外再從經濟學「市場失靈」(market failure)理論的觀點，分析禁止真品平行輸入是否能增進我國人民最大經濟效益，並主張以合理使用原則，而非耗盡原則，來解決著作物平行輸入的爭議，換句話說，法官在處理平行輸入案件時，應針對每一個案評估禁止與允許平行輸入對社會公益及著作權人權益的影響,參酌允許平行輸入的經濟效益及對於促進我國文化創新的助益，而非斷然以國內耗盡理論與僵硬的法條操作，否定平行輸入的合法性，如此才不致與著作權法所欲達成促進社會文化進步之宗旨有所扞格。

Under current intellectual property laws regime, Copyright Law which aims at promoting the progress of culture, along with Patent Law and Trademark Law, are all facing the challenges from parallel imports in gray market. Taiwan’s current Patent Law expressly permitted parallel importation (Patent Law Article 57(6)), and courts, as well as conventional wisdom, both recognize the legality of parallel imports in Trademark Law. Nevertheless, after Amendment in April 1993, Article 87 (4) was added to Taiwan’s Copyright Law which forbid parallel imports with limited exceptions due to the fear of Section 301 trade sanction from U.S. This enactment essentially creates a new distribution right for copyright owner in addition to the eumberated exclusive rights which only include the right to reproduce, right to revise, publicly display right and rental right, and etc. Furthermore, most courts still hold those parallel imports as illegal copies, even if they are manufactured with authorization initially. Courts tend to deem them as unlawful copies and refused to grant exemption under Article 60, thereby a third party distributor of those imports are still subject to civil and criminal penalties.

This Thesis starts from the cause of parallel imports, how current Copyright Law regulates parallel imports, the role U.S. and Taiwan’s trade policy played in the legislative process of Copyright Law, the impact and adverse effect of parallel import ban on trade between U.S. and Taiwan, then proceeds to research on how U.S. law and international treaties cope with parallel import issue as a reference for reviewing the propriety of this enactment. This Thesis will indicate that Section 301 of Trade Act is not in compliance with WTO laws, and conversely, the ban on parallel imports may risk Taiwan to be challeged by other WTO Members as an unlawful trade barrier. Furthermore, with the analysis of market failure theory, this Thesis proposed that current parallel import ban should be lifted, and, instead of exhaustion doctrine, fair use doctrine should be applied to evaluate each parallel import case in a case -by -case manner, taking into account its impact on public interest and copyright owner’s private benefit so that the regulations on parallel imports could be consistent with the objectives of Copyright Law in promoting the progress of culture and useful art.