半導體元件訴訟專利之專利評價的實證研究

Abstract

台灣半導體產業蓬勃發展，2010年台灣半導體產值為1.6兆台幣，根據USPTO統計在2009年台灣地區在美國獲權的專利數量約為6642件，數量上位居在美國申請專利的國家中的第四名，在半導體專利數量上更位居第三位，然而台灣廠商在專利訴訟中經常居於被告的角色，面臨專利訴訟中反訴時常有捉襟見肘之憾。如何建立一個有效率的專利評估方法以協助評估者在最短的時間中於大量的專利中挑選出有價值的專利對專利經營與訴訟策略的擬定有重要的角色。本研究的對象為依WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization)國際專利分類IPC(International Patent Classification)技術分類為半導體元件訴訟專利，這些專利訴訟案件發生期間在1990一月到2010年十月，總共八百六十一件訴訟專利，將這些訴訟專利分成參與單次專利訴訟專利與參與多次專利訴訟專利之兩個群組，參與單次專利訴訟專利計有五百六十六件專利，參與多次專利訴訟專利計有九十二件專利，比較這兩個群組之間的專利特質(Patent Characteristics)包含前案為專利的引證次數，前案為非專利的引證次數，專利被引證次數，專利請求項數目，專利家族數目，專利從獲權到訴訟時間，與專利權移轉次數。使用統計學上的Z-test分析在上列專利特質項目相對應的數據以比較其結果，本研究發現其結果在統計學上有顯著之差異。訴訟專利的專利權人部分發現擁有多個參與單次訴訟專利與擁有多個參與多次訴訟專利的專利申請人為從事製造生產的公司占所有訴訟專利量百分之八十五，在多次訴訟專利部分專利授權公司與獨立發明人的單個多次訴訟專利所參與的專利訴訟案件次數比產品製造公司多，顯示該類專利權人較為積極利用專利訴訟制度以實施其專利權。

US patent litigation cases are increasing rapidly in the recent years. 861 types of IPC code H01L patents were involved in litigation during the period of 1990 to October of 2010. Although Taiwan companies have been applying for the U.S. patents aggressively， very few litigated H01L patents were owned by Taiwan companies. There are over thousands H01L patents granted to Taiwan companies in the past decade. It is necessary to find an efficient method to differentiate the value of H01L patents before conducting deteailed reviews on specific patents to serve litigation purpose.In this paper， litigated H01L patents were categorized into one-time litigatation and more than three-time litigation, repectively, for patent evaluation. The Z-test is employed to perform a statistical test for comparing the patent characteristics. There are significant differences among those patents that were litigated in different times. It is also found that although operating companies hold the majority of litigations to protect their market interests, the NPEs are aiming at multiple targets simultaneously by their patents..