欧洲专利法与美国专利法的区别.doc

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1、.TheEuropeanPatentConvention(EPC)     欧洲专利公约（EPC）Currently,forICT-relatedinventionsthetwomostimportantareastoobtainpatentprotectionareprobablytheUnitedStatesandWest-Europeancountries.TwentyEuropeancountriesarecurrentlymembertotheEuropeanPatentConvention,anditispossibletoobtainpatentpr

2、otectioninthosecountriesthroughasingleprocedurebeforetheEuropeanPatentOffice.目前，与信息通讯技术相关的两个最重要的领域的发明,其专利的保护一般都是通过进入美国和西欧等国家获取的。欧洲专利公约当前加入了20个新成员国，并使申请人在向欧洲专利局提交申请之前能够通过某单一程序向所在成员国申请专利保护。Whilequiteafewaspectsofpatentlawhavebeenharmonizedinternationally(notintheleastduetotreatiesliketh

3、ePatentCooperationTreatyorTRIPS),therestillaremanyimportantdifferencesbetweenthetwosystems.Thisarticlediscussesseveralofthem. 虽然，专利法中有相当几个方面的内容已经做了国际化的协调与统一（不完全与《专利合作条约》以及《与贸易有关的知识产权协议》相同），但美欧两个系统间仍旧存在重要的差异，本文就其差异做出以下几点概括。Firsttofileversusfirsttoinvent先申请制VS先发明制Whentwopeopleapplyforap

4、atentonthesameinvention,thefirstpersontohavefiledhisapplicationwillgetthepatent(assumingtheinventionispatentable,ofcourse).Thisholdsevenifthesecondpersondidinfactcomeupwiththeinventionfirst.Theonlythingthatcountsisthefilingdate. 若两名当事人就同一个发明分别申请专利权，那么率先提出申请者将获得该专利权（假设该发明确认是具有可专利性的）。由此

5、认为，尽管此项发明是由第二个申请人先提出的，但仅以提交申请的日期为准。IntheUSA,aslightlydifferentapproachisused.Incaseoftwoapplicationsforthesameinvention(aso-calledinterference),adeterminationismadewhoinventeditfirst.Thisusuallyinvolvesexamininglaboratorylogbooks,establishingdatesforprototypes,andsoon.Ifthepersonwhofi

6、ledlaterisfoundtohaveinventedearlier,hemaybeawardedthepatent.而美国则使用了稍微不同的方法。为了避免两位申请人申请同一发明的专利（即所谓的干扰），于是由先发明制决定专利权的所属人。依据通常包括：检查实验室研发日记，专利原型的创建日期等。如果后申请人能证明是其先做此发明的，也有获得专利权的可能。Graceperiod宽限期Iftheinventionhasbecomepubliclyavailableinanywaybeforethepatentapplicationwasfiled,theapplicat

7、ionwillberejected(Article54EPC)."Publiclyavailable"includessellingtheinvention,givingalectureaboutit,showingittoaninvestorwithoutanon-disclosureagreement(NDA),publishingitinamagazine,andsoon.Itdoesnotmakeadifferencewhetherthepersonmakingitpubliclyavailableistheinventor,oneoftheinvento

8、rs,or