10410月號 道 法 法 訊 (282)

DEEP & FAR

 

 

通往國際貿易委員會(ITC)橋梁的戰爭:
授權投資作為非專利實施實體(NPE)
建立國內產業的手段

 

黃郁靜 專利工程師

‧陽明大學物理治療系

‧陽明大學生物藥學所

 

 

IV. NPE and Domestic industryNPE與本地產業

    Discussed below are common issues NPEs face when attempting to establish a nexus between the licensing investments and the asserted patent(s) as well as the substantiality of the relevant investments.下面討論的是試圖建立授權投資和系爭專利之間的連結以及相關投資的實體性時,NPE面臨的常見問題。

A. Nexus to Asserted Patent

A.連結至系爭專利

    In some cases, NPEs may acquire and hold a wide range of patents related to different technologies and spanning multiple jurisdictions.在某些情況下, NPE可能獲取和持有涉及不同的技術和跨越多個管轄權的廣大範圍的專利。However, as discussed above, the Commission requires a complainant to establish a nexus between licensing investments and the asserted patent(s).然而,如上述討論的,該委員會要求原告建立授權投資和系爭專利之間的連結。 Thus, an NPE likely cannot rely on simply citing generalized patent portfolio licensing expenditures or even general patent families’ licensing expenditures but, instead, will likely have to provide evidence of specific efforts to license the asserted patent(s).因此,NPE可能不能依賴於只是引用廣義的專利組合授權支出,或甚至一般專利家族的授權支出,但是,相反的,可能將必須提供用於授權系爭專利的具體努力的證據。在一些NPE專利組合的規模和範圍下,這一點尤其重要。All other things being equal, a smaller number of patents in a portfolio will likely assist in establishing a stronger nexus to the asserted patent(s).所有其他的事情都是平等的,投資組合中數量較小的專利可能會幫助與系爭專利建立一個更強有力的連結。But for relatively large or geographically diverse portfolios, simply citing to expenses incurred in connection with efforts involving the portfolio are not likely to be adequate without some effort to tie those expenses to the individual asserted patent(s).但是對於比較大的或多個地理位置的組合,只是引用與涉及投資的努力連結發生的費用,而沒有將那些費用與獨立的系爭專利連結的一些努力,可能不充分。This problem is exacerbated for NPEs that license solely on a portfolio-wide basis, and whose licensing activities would likely relate to the entire portfolio.對於只在組合範圍的基礎上授權、而其授權行為可能會涉及到整個投資組合的NPE,這個問題更惡化。This may create a significant hurdle for an NPE to overcome in attempting to demonstrate a sufficient nexus to the asserted patent(s).這可能會對於克服試圖表現出與系爭專利的充分連結的NPE創造一個顯著的障礙。

 

    大和多樣化的專利組合可能會導致NPE的其他問題。For example, evidence may be lacking as to whether any of its licensees actually employs the patented technology.例如,可能缺乏其任何被授權人是否實際採用專利技術的證據。In addition, the asserted patent(s) may never have been explicitly mentioned in any license negotiations.此外,系爭專利可能從來沒有被明顯地在任何授權談判中提及。在授權討論中,A failure to understand the relative importance of each asserted patent as compared to other, non-accused patents in licensing discussions may result in a weaker nexus.不懂得每個系爭專利與其他非被告專利比較的相對重要性,可能會導致較弱的連結。Finally, some NPEs may try to establish the value contributed by the asserted patent(s) to the portfolio by employing economic analyses such as patent citation counts.最後,一些NPE可能藉由採用如專利被引用次數的經濟分析,嘗試建立由系爭專利對投資組合貢獻的價值。Such approaches need to be vetted carefully before being relied upon to establish a nexus.這些方法在被依靠來建立連結之前,需要被仔細審核。