從競爭法之觀點探討專利授權之爭議-以我國光儲存媒體產業為例

Abstract

專利權係國家主管機關給予專利權人，除法律另有規定外，任何人未經專利權人同意之前，不得任意為製造、銷售之要約、銷售、使用或進口其專利產品，或者使用其專利方法，否則即涉及專利侵害，專利權人因得以排除他人實施或處分其專利內容。近年來，在商品市場佔有率激烈競爭及經濟景氣不穩定等因素的影響下，藉由專利授權或侵權訴訟來施壓已儼然成為專利權人所不可或缺的權利救濟模式。專利法之最終目的是在於促進整體產業經濟的提昇，而非專為專利權人累積私有財富，然而專利權人也可能藉由專利權的取得、故意不實施及授權實施的限制等方式來不當擴張其法定的權能範圍，進而導致專利濫用，破壞市場公平競爭。專利法之目的雖然是在促進創新與產業之發展，但如權利人在行使其權利時，有妨礙市場公平競爭，損及公眾利益之行為，則法律是否要繼續給予其保障，則有待商榷。競爭法之目的在於保護競爭、維護市場交易之公平性，其基本精神在於保障社會大眾從事工商活動的自由，是故當專利權人若欲使用其權利達到排除競爭或損害市場競爭時，競爭法即有可非難之處。美國反托拉斯法及我國公平交易法均立法禁止專利權人或授權人藉由價格操縱、限制授權使用範圍或其他具有限制競爭的作用，而可能導致破壞競爭之商業行為。本文則是欲從前述競爭法的立法觀點來探討當前專利授權所存在之爭議，目的則在於使研究成果得以合理反應現有專利授權行為在法理及實務上究竟有無市場不公平競爭之情事存在，並希冀日後專利授權均可能在客觀合理的條件下被完成，主管機關也能夠合理地干預任何涉及市場不公平競爭之商業爭端。

Patent right is an exclusive power of patent owners granted by IP administrative bodies. Unless otherwise provided by other laws, the patentee shall have the exclusive right to preclude other persons from manufacturing, making an offer for sale, selling, using, or importing for above purposes the patented article or adopting the patented process without his/her prior consent, otherwise, the aforesaid behaviors will be involved in patent infringement. In recent years, the reasons more and more patentees exercise their own rights through patent licensing and lawsuit by claiming unfeasible reasons such as market competition or economic depression. Patent law is designed to enhance the entire economic development, but not to accumulate patentees’ private wealth. However, patentees can improperly expand their legal authorities by willfully non-practicing the patent rights or imposing more limitations of patent licensing which usually results in patent misuses. Fair competition in the market is thus been devastated. The objective of patent law is to stimulate innovation and industrial development. However, a controversy might occur if the laws shall protect those patentees who impair fair market and public interests from a competition laws perspective whose main purpose is to protect competition and the fairness of transaction. The fundamental idea of competition law is fair market principle and any misconduct that hamper market competition shall be punished including any patent misuse. In both U.S Antitrust Laws and Taiwan Fair Trade Act, patentee or patentors shall be prohibited from destroying fair competition by using price fixing, limitation of patent licensing or other inequitable ways. This thesis will focus on the patent licensing controversies from a competition law perspective and the purpose is to reasonably reflect whether the existing patent licensing pattern has resulted in unfair competition and been inconsistent with theory of law. Furthermore, the research outcomes and suggestions are intend to enhance future patent licensing activities in a more feasible and reasonable way, in addition, the relevant administrative entities will reasonably interfere with any commercial controversies related to market unfair competition.