論信賴保護原則對於專利授予之適用問題

The Study on the Applicability of the Principle of Legitimate Expectation to Patent Granting

專利授予制度係建立在專利申請人對外公開其技術內容，並經專利專責機關審查無不予專利之情事時，進由國家授予專利申請人一定期間之獨佔及排他之權利。惟專利專責機關在審查應否准予專利時，可能因專利審查人員之所學知識及其蒐集之資料有限，而難以避免因審查之疏忽或錯誤所產生有瑕疵之專利。據此，專利申請人取得專利權之後，並非表示專利權絕對有效，倘後來發現該專利權於申請時有違反專利之要件，當得依舉發或依職權撤銷自始具有瑕疵之違法行政處分，使其失其效力，倘如仍可任其繼續有效，則與國家授予專利之旨趣不符。
故專利法乃設有事後挑戰專利有效性之制度，即所謂之「公眾審查」制度。旨在於取得專利權後，利害關係人或任何人可依法提起舉發撤銷，或專利專責機關依職權撤銷，藉以提供專利審查人員審查後之自我省查，所進行再次審查之謂。然依專利法第七十三條第二項規定，專利權經撤銷者，專利權之效力視為自始即不存在。質言之，以專利權之存在為前提之一切法律關係，均因專利權之被撤銷而消滅。準此，專利舉發與撤銷之關係有如行政機關對於行政處分之無效、撤銷或廢止，雖係法治國家落實「依法行政原則」之當然結果，惟除了貫徹之外，尚需注意「信賴保護原則」之調和，以為專利授予制度之衡平。

The system for granting of patents exercises by granting an exclusive and preclusive right valid for a predetermined period to an inventor or creator for his invention or creation where the examination result reveals no reason to deny the patentability of the invention on condition that the inventor or creator reveals the invention or creation to the public. However, defective patents happen on occasion where the examiners in the authority make errors and/or mistakes when conducting the examination and determine whether a patent right should be granted, due to the examiners＇ personal limitation in knowledge or data collection. With such a possibility, a patent right granted to a patent applicant may not be absolutely valid, and may be revoked as a defective administrative decision by the Patent Office by authority or under a third party＇s request for cancellation where the authority to the third party later comes to be aware of that the patent application at the time it was filed has failed to satisfy the patent requirements. Such invalidation is thus executed to advocate the national purport of granting patent rights. Hence, the Patent Act supports post challenge against the validation of patent rights, i.e. “public inspection＂. After a patent right is granted, any party of interest may request for cancelling the patent right by law, or the responsible authority may revoke the patent right by authority so as to allow a patent examiner to make post-examination review. As provided in Article 73(2) of the Patent Act, the effect of an irrevocably-revoked invention patent right shall be deemed non-existent ab initio. As such, all legal relations based on the existence of a patent right appear to be revoked or extinguished concurrently with the revocation or extinguishment of the patent right. In this context, though it is a consequential outcome of following the “Principle of Administration by Law＂ that the administrative authority of a country ruled by law may make invalidation, cancelation or revocation against administrative decision, reconciliation with the “Principle of Legitimate Expectation＂ shall be also considered, so as to hold the equitableness of the system for granting of patents.