Research On Invalidation Defense In Suit Of Patent Infringement

In patent infringement cases, the most powerful and useful defense claimed by accused infringer is arguing that the relevant patent is invalid, which is called patent invalidation defense. Because of separation of functions of government, China has adopted administrative single-railway system. That means, if accused infringer believes that the granted patent right does not conform to the relevant provisions of these law thereby causing the patent invalid, the accused infringer may request that the Patent Reexamination Board declares the said patent right invalid. This problem solving mechanism results in long patent infringement litigation period, which has an adverse impact on relevant parties ’ interests. In current judicial practice, several methods have been adopted in order to simplify produce and reduce burden of parties,but the restriction of patent invalidation procedure cannot be get rid of. Patent invalidation procedures in America and Japan have its own unique features, bet theyshare a sort of similarities with that of China. To solve the realistic difficulties in our country, it is considerable to adopt the same mechanism with Japan based on the reference to the mechanisms of Japan and American. From the respective of existing conditions, the introduction of the mechanism already has a certain foundation. Also,some breakthrough experiments have been conducted in the judicial practice. Once the patent invalidation defense is introduced into China, our courts will be able to solve the problem in a more efficient way. Meanwhile, the limitations and relativity ofthe new patent invalidation defense mechanism should be established with several related matching measures, which could prevent conflicts during the judging of validation of disputed patent rights.The first chapters of this paper analyze the existing dilemma in our judicial practice. According to the current China Patent Law and related regulations, when the accused infringer want to claim the invalidation of disputed patent rights, the only way is request that the Patent Reexamination Board declares the said patent right invalid. The current procedure of confirming the patent right is time-consuming,under the jurisdiction of multi-level authorities, and may falls into endless loop of litigation in some circumstances, which causes the delay in infringement lawsuit.Meanwhile, there exists some difference in respect of the substantive review results of motion of suspension of lawsuit due to the inconsistent applicable standards, thus impact the efficient trial of patent infringement.The second chapter of this paper inquiries and analyzes the framework and rules of patent invalidation defense in other countries through comparative study. Firstly,this chapter makes it clear that the introduction of other countries’ reform in procedure of confirming patent require significant change in system, meanwhile it could not change the fact that patent invalidation procedure has to be the prepositional procedure of patent infringement lawsuit. Without changing the civil-administrative dual structure, this paper focuses on the patent invalidation defense mechanism in America and Japan, which share several similarities with that of China. The research ranges from the development, application and validation of American and Japanese patent invalidation procedures to its relation with the administrative procedures.Based on the difference between American patent invalidation defense and Japanese patent invalidation defense, this paper analyzes respective advantages and disadvantages and provides some reference for the establishment of our own rules.The last chapter of this paper presents countermeasures for resolving the dilemma of patent invalidation defense of China. The changes of current patent casesjudgment mode, establishment of new institutions, technical assistance mechanism,judicial practice and policy show the feasibility of adopting patent invalidation defense. Through comparative study and analysis, this paper believes that patent invalidation defense should be judged case by case, which could solve the current problem with the current legal system. Base on the practice of China, this paper establishes a framework of patent invalidation defense with improvement and implement of several matching and support mechanism. This structure could decrease the conflicts of civil infringement procedure and administrative procedure.