專利申請人現有技術披露義務研究

On Patent Applicant's Duty to Disclose Prior Arts

在中國專利法下，披露與發明有關的現有技術，是專利申請人的法定義務。理論上，這一制度可以消除申請人和審查員之間的信息不對稱，有一定的合理性。但是，美國專利法實踐表明，強化申請人披露義務會導致善意申請人過度預防，而對惡意申請人卻不起作用，並造成訴訟資源浪費。現有各種改進措施或建議難以有效消除這些負面後果。在數字技術時代，專利審查的手段更加有效；申請人披露信息對專利質量提高的作用可以忽略；專利法上的配套性制度安排可以減小申請人隱瞞現有文獻的負面後果。綜合權衡這一制度的運行成本和實際收益之後，中國專利法應當修改現有規定，放棄專利申請人的現有技術披露義務。

Under Chinese Patent Law, a patent applicant has the duty to disclose prior arts material to the patentability of his invention. Theoretically, this duty could diminish information asymmetry between applicants and examiners, and thus is reasonable to certain degree. However, when operating in the United States, the duty causes excessive disclosure of prior arts by bona fide applicants, but barely has deterrence effect on bad faith applicants. Moreover, it wastes judicial resources. Various existing measures and suggestions fail to eliminate the negative consequences of this duty effectively. In this digital era, more effective measures of patent examination become available; the effect of prior arts disclosure in improving patent quality is very limited; and other relevant patent rules help to reduce the negative impacts caused by applicants' concealing prior arts. Weighing the social costs and its actual effect, Chinese legislature should repeal applicants' duty to disclose prior art.