試評2023年專利法部分條文修正草案──以德國發明專利法之規定為比較對象

行政院在2023年通過專利法部分條文修正草案，送立法院審議。2023年專利法修正草案，其修正重點在於專利救濟制度之變革。依據2023年專利法修正草案之規定，專利救濟制度分成兩種不同案件類型，第一種是「複審案件」，第二種則是「爭議案件」，這兩種案件均包括「智慧財產局之行政程序」以及「訴訟程序」。對於由智慧財產局執掌之複審案及爭議案，2023年專利法修正草案規定由智慧財產局組成「複審及爭議審議會」負責審議。特別值得注意的是，2023年專利法修正草案將專利救濟制度關於司法程序的部分，從現行之行政訴訟改為準用民事訴訟程序，終審法院則由現行之最高行政法院改為最高法院。雖然2023年專利法修正草案最終未能完成立法，但其內容仍有予以分析研究之必要。另外依據2023年專利法修正草案之修正說明，德國法制係草案參考的對象之一。從而，德國法對於專利救濟制度之規定為何，其與2023年專利法修正草案的制度設計有何異同，亦有比較研究之價值。本文擬以德國發明專利法之規定為比較對象，嘗試對2023年專利法修正草案之重要內容進行評論剖析，並提出綜合觀察心得，俾供各界參考。

The Executive Yuan passed a draft amendment to some provisions of the Patent Act in 2023 and sent it to the Legislative Yuan for review. The 2023 draft amendment of the Patent Act focuses on the reform of the patent relief system. According to the 2023 draft amendment to the Patent Act, the patent relief system is divided into two different types of cases. The first is“retrial cases”and the second is“dispute cases”. Both cases include the administrative procedure at the Intellectual Property Office and court proceedings. For retrial and dispute cases handled by the Intellectual Property Office, the 2023 draft amendment to the Patent Act stipulates that the Intellectual Property Office shall organize the Retrial and Dispute Review Committee to review these cases. It should be particularly noted that according to the 2023 draft amendment to the Patent Act, the patent relief litigation shall apply mutatis mutandis to the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure (rather than the Administrative Litigation Act), and the court of last resort is the Supreme Court (rather than the Supreme Administrative Court). Although the draft amendment to the Patent Act in 2023 was ultimately not completed as legislation, its content still needs to be analyzed and studied. In addition, the amendment description of the 2023 draft amendment to the Patent Act states that the draft takes into account the German legal system. Therefore, it is also valuable to compare the German legal system with the 2023 draft amendment to the Patent Act. This article intends to use the provisions of the German Patent Act as a comparison object, and attempts to comment and analyze the important contents of the 2023 draft amendment to the Patent Act. The research results of this article should provide a reference for academic and practical circles.