经济学人下载:知识产权,悬而未决的专利

Intellectual property知识产权

Many patents, still pending
悬而未决的专利

Congress tweaks, but does not overhaul, America’s patent system
国会将对美国专利制度进行小幅修改

Sep 10th 2011 | NEW YORK | from the print edition

AFTER years of dithering, America is set for patent reform. On September 6th a bill proposing to change the system passed its highest procedural hurdle in the Senate. With Barack Obama supportive, this means the America Invents Act could soon be signed into law.

徘徊犹豫了多年，美国终于着手专利改革。9月6号，整改议案过了最艰难的一关——参议院。得到总统巴拉克．奥巴马的支持，美国发明法规将很快能正式写入法律。

Instead of the “first to invent” principle, which America currently uses, patents will be awarded to inventors who are the “first to file”. This is similar to the system most other countries use. The aim is to avoid long and difficult legal arguments over who was the first to come up with an idea.

美国专利目前遵循“第一发明”原则，将改为授予第一个申请注册的人。目前大部分国家都实行这种规定，这样可避免对第一发明人的确定争论不休，难以确定。

As in most cases of patent law it is not going to be that simple. One criticism is that being first-to-file gives big and sophisticated organisations, highly experienced at the difficult job of filing for patents, an advantage over smaller outfits that may be technically brilliant but not legally savvy. Another problem is that first-to-file may make companies rush to put in for a patent before their invention is truly ready.

如专利法中涉及的案例很多都不能简单的界定。有一种批评意见是，申请注册专利会造成庞大复杂的机构，特别是申请过程更是项困难的工作，小型机构的优点在于技术上的优越而不只是合法的专业知识。另一个问题是专利的申请可能促使一些公司在一些发明尚未成型时就急于将其注册。