World Patent System: A Charming Trap

Talking from "Patent Right Killing"

Former U.S. President Lincoln said that the patent is "adding the oil of interest to the fire of wisdom," which affirmed the significant role of the patent system in encouraging inventions and inventions. However, in recent years, some groups in South Africa have reported this kind of voice: "Patent rights kill people!"

How can the "oil of interest" of patents become a "killing tool"?

The reason is that multinational pharmaceutical companies are holding patent rights for AIDS medicines, making the prices of these medicines stubbornly high, making it difficult for poor AIDS victims in South Africa to abandon treatment. Therefore, some groups accused the patent right of being contaminated by the blood of “killing people”. They advocated copying of monopoly-owned patented medicines by multinational companies to drastically reduce the prices of medicines.

Although the exaggeration of the words “patent rights killings” expresses a general sentiment among some developing countries, especially the least developed countries. Due to the patent protection of new drugs for at least 20 years, the health service institutions in developing countries and the production of cheap alternative medicines on which the poor depend are delayed to a certain extent. Therefore, in a sense, “patent right killing” is not groundless, but it truly reflects the patent obstacles faced by developing countries in public health issues.

Developed countries seek to raise the international protection standards of patent rights to an unprecedented level, not only aggravating the predicament of developing countries in terms of health problems. In the fields of industry, agriculture, commerce, etc. The state is equally successful. Proper intellectual property protection is also beneficial to developing countries. However, given the significant differences between developing countries in the level of socio-economic development and scientific and technological R&D capabilities and developed countries, the protection of intellectual property rights at ultra-level levels may not be appropriate for developing countries. According to statistics, the developing countries that currently account for 75% of the world’s population have only 3% of global invention patents, while developed countries, which account for 25% of the world’s population, have 97% of global invention patents. Self-evident, over-level patent protection policy, the direct benefit is mainly developed countries.

The secret of the world patent system

The TRIPS agreement has completed the highest standards for international patent protection since the Paris Convention of 1883. However, in the eyes of developed countries, this is not the end. For a long time, developed countries such as the United States, the European Union, and Japan have been actively promoting the establishment of a new patent system—the world patent system. The so-called world patent system, in short, refers to a patent (world patent) granted by a patent office (World Patent Office) under a patent law (World Patent Law), which is generally valid in all participating countries in the world. Patent system. The world patent system was welcomed by the developed countries but it worried the developing countries.

The developed world patent system proposed by some developed countries mainly includes the following: (1) The unified world patent law. The basic issues such as the substantive standards for the granting of patents, the publication of the contents of the invention, the standards for full disclosure, the duration of patent protection, and the judicial review system shall be uniformly stipulated. Each participating country recognizes the validity of the patent law by signing an agreement and recognizes the patent right granted under the patent law. (2) Unified World Patent Office. The future World Patent Office will be responsible for most of the procedural and substantive matters that are currently being handled by the patent offices of various countries. It may also be undertaken by the more powerful patent offices of the United States, Japan, and Europe, and then gradually transitioned to a patent office. (3) Unified application process. The applicant can only apply for a patent to the World Patent Office according to the World Patent Law. All procedures including application, search, examination and authorization can be completed in a single application. (4) Unified world patent rights. After the World Patent Office has examined a patent application based on the search results according to the standards set by the World Patent Law, it can grant universal patent rights that are universally recognized and protected by the participating countries.

It should be recognized that the world patent system can reduce the duplication of work for applicants when applying for patents in different countries on the same invention, which can save the cost and time for obtaining patents. At the same time, through the unification of patent authorization standards, the instability and uncertainty of obtaining and maintaining patent rights in the same invention in various countries can be reduced. However, when these benefits are detailed, do not overlook the possible adverse effects of the world patent system.

First of all, the world patent system may lead to the loss of some sovereignty over patent affairs in various countries, such as the loss of legislative powers that stipulate issues such as patent standards and the scope of patent protection. Some scholars have pointed out: "The power of globalization and intellectual property is not so much a reduction of the effectiveness and coercive power of domestic law. It is better to say that it is a challenge to national sovereignty through another or more fundamental method." Second, the world patent system will increase the number of patents obtained by foreign applicants, and domestic companies will face more patents from abroad. Third, the world patent system will reduce the income of the patent agency industry in various countries because foreign applicants do not have to apply for patents in various countries, nor do they need to appoint agents. The adverse effects such as this are by no means limited to this.

What people are most worried about is that for developed countries, the intention of pursuing the world patent system may not be simply to “simplify patent examination and approval procedures, reduce duplication of labor, lower the cost of obtaining patent protection, and facilitate the dissemination of technical information and international Inter-technology transfer." The secret of the developed countries so welcoming the world patent system may be that it can realize more benefits through it and even gain certain control.

The world patent system will tie the hands of developing countries and severely restrict its flexibility in patent policy. As we all know, the intellectual property system, including patents, has become a tool of public policy and has become an important factor affecting the economy. In India, the Patent Law of 1970 protected the intellectual property rights of pharmaceutical products relatively weakly and was widely considered to be an important factor in the rapid growth of its pharmaceutical industry. This allowed India to become a manufacturer and exporter of low-cost generic drugs and large-package intermediates. . However, in the era of the world patent system, the right of developing countries to flexibly design their own intellectual property rights protection system may be deprived of their net worth, and they can only follow the “bells” of developed countries.

Vigilant globalization

The famous American jurist Louis Henkin pointed out with deep meaning: "In the relations between nations, the progress of civilization can be thought of as a movement from force to diplomacy, from diplomacy to law." The United States used the "Special 301" clause of 1988, A series of negotiations with some developing countries on the protection of intellectual property rights have greatly changed the intellectual property system there. Now, developed countries are trying to find a more convenient and effective way, through multilateral treaties of intellectual property rights, to allow treaty member states to maintain a certain degree of legal consistency with them, so as to realize the expansion of their national interests in the world.