中医药技术秘密保护的价值审视和风险规制

现代医药的知识产权保护是建立在以西方科技为发展基点、西医药为主要保护对象、专利保护为核心手段基础之上的产权保护制度.在应对中医药的知识产权保护时,一味遵循西药的专利保护制度无法适应中医药理论体系,依靠专利制度进行中医药知识产权保护往往捉襟见肘.相比之下,长期处于专利制度云翳背后的技术秘密保护手段,能够有效弥补传统以专利...     

我国知识产权法律与国家发展政策的整合

内容提要:我国就知识产权保护议题在与发达国家谈判的过程中屡遭挫败,甚至制定出“超国际标准”的知识产权保护规范。知识产权法的立法意旨在于奖励创造与发明,进而促进科学及文化的进步,但是与发达国家一致的知识产权保护标准,并不能使发展中国家从中获益。然而并非所有的发达国家或国际组织在思考国际间知识产权保护政策的走向时均固守本位主义,他们的许多支持发展中国家利益的研究成果,对我国未来制定新的知识产权法规与政策均甚有助益。应就知识产权与人权之间发生的冲突,及其与宪法基本权冲突时的优位选择理论做出探索,以此作为我国日后制定知识产权法律及与发达国家进行相关谈判的政策依据。     

Warranties and indemnities in contracts: protecting and exploiting IP

Legal context: Warranties and indemnities are present in most contracts butare particularly relevant in contracts involving intellectualproperty(IP), where the contract subject matter is intangibleand less open to verification. Warranties and indemnities areoften the most heavily negotiated parts of such contracts. Key points: This note discusses warranties and indemnities often found incontracts dealing with IP rights and deals with some of thekey practical areas that should be considered when draftingand negotiating such provisions. Practical significance: Warranties and indemnities offer important protection to licenseesand assignees of IP rights. However, it is important to understandtheir limitations. Firstly, warranties and indemnities are onlyever as good as the entity that gives them. Secondly, indemnitiesonly provide financial protection in respect of civil liability.As certain types of IP rights infringement are criminal offencesunder English law, indemnities should not replace the need forappropriate due diligence.     

ANTI-ABUSE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS UNDER THE ANTI-MONOPOLY LAW: CHINA’S APPROACHES

Even though China’s first Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) was effective on August 1, 2008, the implementation of Article 55 has been delayed until 2014 when several actions were taken. For examples, several foreign giant intellectual property holders were investigated for possible abuse of their intellectual property rights and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce released the Rules on Prohibiting Conducts of Abusing Intellectual Property Rights by Excluding or Restricting. The underlying message is obvious: China starts to pay more and more attention to the protection of intellectual property (IP) rights on the one hand, she decides to seriously deal with the abuse of intellectual property rights by intellectual property owners, especially those giant international companies. Because the issue of how to balance the tension between IP law and the AML is a new topic in China, this paper intends to outline the prevailing experiences from foreign jurisdictions especially from the United States and European Union and to propose some useful strategies and approaches, which are fit into China’s reality.     

Intellectual property laws integrated with the national development policies in China

As a developing country, China has been pressured by the developed countries to increase the levels of intellectual property (IP) protection and to adopt IP rules that even go beyond the minimum international standards. IP regimes are established to promote advances in science and culture by rewarding creation and invention. However, developing countries do not necessarily appropriately share the benefits from the harmonization of IP protection standards over the world. Fortunately, not every developed country or international organization is concerned only with its own interest when evaluating the tendency of international IP protection policies. In fact, they have made many studies or findings in favor of the concerns and interests of developing countries. This paper investigates the conflicts between IP rights and human rights, as well as the validity of IP laws under constitutional arguments, with the purpose of providing new strategic policy arguments in China’s future amendments to IP laws, and related negotiations with developed countries. __________ Translated from Faxue Yanjiu 法学研究 (Law Research), 2005, (6): 105–115     

后TRIPs时代我国知识产权反垄断的立法价值选择

后TRIPs时代,我国知识产权保护水平已与世界先进国家标准接轨;但我国自主创新比例却相当低,知识产权已经成为国外知识产权权利人进人中国后封闭市场、排挤竞争对手的工具。一国的知识产权反垄断立法价值取向应当与其具体的国内外经济政治环境相适应,反映其“本土性”、“时代性”的特点。作为拥有知识霸权的发达国家,已放松了对知识产权反垄断的规制,持有利于知识产权人的立场;他们的立场与技术落后的发展中国家截然不同。我国在知识产权反垄断立法过程中,当务之急不是去寻求国外的立法技术移植;而是从战略高度确定知识产权反垄断的立法价值取向,即以社会公益为本位,强化反垄断规制。     

论国际法视野下中医药知识产权的保护

我们对于传统中医药知识产权的保护多从私权出发,从而忽视了国家在这一领域内应起的作用。本文试图说明国家在中医药知识产权国际保护中的地位应该得到加强,并且在不违背其所承担的国际义务的前提下,可以通过强化其外部贸易政策来实现这一目的。     

Legal rights in data

It is now apposite to speak of the ‘data centric world’. Businesses are paying ever more attention to their own, and others’ data, as a way of adding value to the organisation and conferring competitive advantage. This in turn is focusing attention on legal rights in data across many business sectors, where we’re starting to see more disputes. Data is funny stuff in and of itself - effectively inert in legal terms. It is more precise to speak of ‘legal rights in relation to data’. Those rights are IP rights - copyright, database right, confidentiality, patents and trade marks - and contract rights. Each IP right has its own rules, and applying those rules to data leads to a complex, multi-layered analysis where the law is unsettled and uncertain. This means that data is an area where contract is very often king, so most businesses regulate access to data by means of a series of agreements. The most commonly contested points in negotiations are around licence scope, derived data, commingled data and post term use.     

我国文化产业的知识产权战略选择

文化产业的核心价值和根本经济增长点就是知识产权利益的实现,如何从知识产权战略实施的角度促进我国文化产业的发展,既是一个有待深入研究的理论问题,又是一个亟待科学解决的现实问题。文化产业实施知识产权战略,有其天然属性和必要性,我国已初步建立起文化产业的知识产权保护体系,但在文化产业知识产权战略实施方面还存在着一定的问题,我国文化产业知识产权战略的实施必须将国内政策选择与国际化策略推行结合起来。     

A growing field

Ten years ago, you would have been hard-pressed to find a legaltextbook, even in the IP field, specifically referring to brands,branding, or brand protection. Today, however, the shelves ofspecialist legal booksellers contain a wide variety of booksrelating to branding covering the spectrum, from academic analysisof the differences between brands and trade marks to so-calledpractitioner guides on strategic protection issues. The growthin this field reflects the spread of IP rights generally inthe commercial arena and its strategic importance to businesseslarge and small. Like      

知识产权基本法之构建

知识产权基本法的制定意义重大.知识产权基本法,是指统一调整和规范知识财产的支配关系的法律规范.知识产权基本法为形式意义上的知识产权法,是各知识产权单行法的母法,性质为私法.我国知识产权基本法的立法应采取三步走的步骤:第一步是制定知识产权基本法,第二步是在民法典中制定知识产权法编,第三步是制定知识产权法典.     

Towards an EC directive on plant breeder's rights?

Legal context: Although ‘Brussels’ has established many Directivesand Regulations in the field of IP law during the last two decades,there is still no Council Directive on plant breeder's rights. Key points: The article first examines the current national plant varietyprotection laws in force in the EC Member States. It then focuseson some figures with regard to national applications and Communityapplications for plant breeder's rights filed in the years 2001–2005.Subsequently, it discusses a number of optional provisions laiddown in the 1991 UPOV Convention and it points out the manydifferences in national laws that result from this UPOV text.In particular, it draws attention to national differences withregard to the protection of products made directly from harvestedmaterial, the farmer's privilege, and the term of protection. Practical significance: The article concludes that national applications for plant varietyprotection still play a significant role next to Community applications.It argues that the establishment of a Directive would be worthconsidering, as the differences between the laws of the MemberStates lead to barriers to the free movement of goods and toa distortion of the conditions of competition on the commonmarket.     

Intellectual property issues in joint ventures and collaborations

Legal context: The IP issues involved in forming, operating, and (inevitably)terminating a joint venture or collaboration are much more numerousthan would typically apply to a straightforward investment inan organic growth, or on a merger or acquisition. The pitfallsare also more insidious. Key points: The author approaches the topic within the commercial context,discussing the commercial rationale behind joint ventures andcollaborations and the life cycle of a joint venture or collaboration. The article explores the four key stages of a joint ventureor collaboration: (1) pre-contract stage: confidentiality andtrade secrets; due diligence; structural considerations; (2)formation stage: assignment and licensing of existing rights;the terms of transfer; valuation of IP contributions; (3) durationstage: future contribution of existing and future backgroundrights; ownership and exploitation of foreground rights; maintenanceand protection of rights; and (4) termination stage: providingfor both unexpected and expected events. The article also provides advice as to avoiding the pitfallsof joint ownership: understanding the differences between jurisdictions;potential problems; and avoiding the banana skins. Practical significance: Joint ventures and collaborations are widely used across a rangeof industry sectors, but particularly high-tech sectors, suchas pharma/bio, information technology, and communications, inwhich IP rights are particularly important. Parties consistently cite the loss of background IP rights asa major risk in joint venture collaborations, and dealing withIP that is generated in the course of a joint venture or collaborationcan also present particular problems, particularly if it isto be used or owned jointly by more than one party.     

Intellectual property law and practice in the blockchain realm

Blockchain technology is claimed to be and perceived as one of the revolutionary technologies that will have an enormous impact on our lives in the forthcoming years and decades. The legal questions surrounding blockchain appear to be among the most controversial issues surrounding this novel technology, which create uncertainties as to the scope and speed of its eventual adoption. Is it legal to use blockchain technology? Does or should any governmental authority or court take a record stored in blockchain into consideration in their decisions? Is blockchain reliable? Can the technology be used for the protection and enforcement of legal and property rights?The technological advancements offered by blockchain promise wide ranges of use in a variety of sectors and legal areas, including intellectual property (IP) law. This paper will focus primarily on the possible opportunities that blockchain may offer with respect to the future of IP law and discuss its potential impact on the registration, management and enforcement of intellectual property rights. We will proceed to offer blockchain-based solutions to foster the operation of IP offices, reinforce customs procedures in detecting counterfeit products, and enhance the efficiency of IP rights management by the right holders. The paper concludes by providing some suggestions to pave the way for the advancement of blockchain technology and to increase the number of people that this technology reaches, as well as its successful integration into the various services and registration/transaction channels that we use today.     

Art and copyright: some current issues

Legal context IP lawyers are increasingly having to advise onart-related copyright matters. Current issues include the strongcopyright protection given to images, uncertainty in the protectiongiven to innovative contemporary art works, problems in applyingthe fair dealing exceptions to art works, and the increasingrelevance of other IP rights. Key points Image rights receive strong protection - photographsof public domain art works are protected in the basis of long-standingauthority (although there are arguments against such a view).Whether an artistic work is protected by copyright depends onwhether the work falls into the closed list of categories insection 4 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (painting,drawing, engraving, sculpture, etc). Much contemporary art doesnot fall neatly within these categories. Categorisation willalso be in issue as far as Artist's Resale Right is concerned.There is lack of understanding amongst internet artists aboutthe copyright restrictions that apply to digital works and concernsare raised more generally about the lawfulness of appropriationart. Practical significance Lawyers advising artists and those exploitingartistic works need to be aware of the potentially broad scopegiven in UK law to protecting works of art (including photographsof public domain works such as Old Master paintings) and tothe conflict between copyright and the practice of appropriationart. Where infringement claims are being considered fair dealingarguments and the possible impact of human rights law in guaranteeingfreedom of expression will need to be carefully considered.There has been little reported litigation on moral rights butthis aspect cannot be ignored. Trade mark rights, design lawand passing off may also need to be considered.     

Human Rights, Development, and the WTO: The Cases of Intellectual Property and Competition Policy

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has sometimes been portrayedas being at odds with the protection of human rights. This articletakes issue with this perception, both generally and with specificreference to WTO agreements/activities in the areas of intellectualproperty (IP) and competition policy. The rules and proceduresof the WTO are directly supportive of civil rights in the senseof freedom to participate in markets and freedom from arbitrarygovernmental procedures. In addition, the system contributesto development and to the realization of broader economic, social,and cultural rights, by stimulating economic growth and therebyhelping to generate the resources that are needed for the fulfilmentof such rights. The article examines various human rights andpublic interest rationales for the protection of intellectualproperty rights (IPRs). The recent amendment to the Agreementon Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)to facilitate access to medicines in the event of public healthemergencies is outlined. With respect to competition policy,such policy constitutes an important aspect of governance insuccessful market-based economies. There is a clear need forcooperative approaches to the implementation of national competitionpolicies. The appropriate scope and venue for such cooperationare a matter for further deliberation.     

The Criminal Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in China: Recent Developments and Implications

This article systematically introduces and analyzes a number of aspects of the criminal enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR) in China, focusing on recent trends and developments. China has been under tremendous pressure from the US to expand the criminalization of its IP infringement. The article first summarizes the substantive criminal law regarding IP offenses in China and describes the main enforcement agencies and judicial organs responsible for the investigation and processing of IP crimes. Analysis of the substantive criminal IP law and enforcement practices shows a steady pattern of rapid criminalization, not only on the books but also in action. Newly promulgated judicial interpretations and notices substantially expand criminalization of IP infringements. In addition, the enforcement rates of IP and related crimes have been rising consistently and rapidly. There have also been numerous joint meetings, information exchanges, issuance of provisions, collaborative “strike-hard” enforcement campaigns and other major efforts initiated by the police, the prosecutors, and administrative agencies to facilitate agency cooperation and strengthen the criminal enforcement of IPR. However, accompanying this rapid criminalization of IP infringement control are serious problems rooted in the Chinese criminal judicial system, including local protectionism, the lack of respect for procedural justice as well as the protection of defendants’ basic rights, and inadequate training, professional incompetence, misconduct, or corruption.     

知识产权惩罚性赔偿的类型化适用与风险避免——基于国际知识产权规则的视角

惩罚性赔偿制度的目的在于通过惩罚既往侵权行为而威慑未来侵权行为,其前提包括权利的确定性、侵权判断可行和过度威慑的消极影响小。知识产权的不确定性决定了它与惩罚性赔偿有着根本冲突,难以全面适用惩罚性赔偿制度。从惩罚性赔偿制度的前提和侵权行为的道德可责性出发,可对知识产权惩罚性赔偿进行类型化适用,恶意知识产权侵权行为或可适用惩罚性赔偿,一般知识产权侵权行为则难以适用。在国际知识产权规则下,既要保护知识产权,又要为正当竞争保留合理空间,知识产权与竞争的平衡才可产生最优的创新激励效果。知识产权惩罚性赔偿可能造成过度威慑,打破知识产权与竞争的平衡,妨碍知识产权法基本目标的实现。类型化适用有利于降低或避免知识产权惩罚性赔偿的制度风险。     

Personal Data Protection in Nigeria: Reflections on Opportunities,Options and Challenges to Legal Reforms

The right to personal data protection is, without doubt, an important right in the jurisprudence of rights in the contemporary information society. It is becoming as crucial as other orthodox human rights and also attracting significant attention from academics, lawyers, human rights activists and policy makers. In spite of the growing attention data protection receives at international and regional levels, Nigeria is still lagging behind many competitor states like South Africa in establishing an effective legal framework to protect personal data. Individuals’ personal data is being collected and used without any serious form of control to check against abuse. This paper reflects on opportunities, option and challenges to legal reforms on data protection in Nigeria. It contends that certain legislative and practical challenges stand in the way of an effective legal regime on personal data protection. The paper suggests appropriate legal reforms that are needed to enable prevent the increasing risks of violating the right to data protection in a country that is making rapid advances in Information and Communication Technology but hamstrung by an outdated regulatory framework.     

农民工权利司法救济路径探析

当前,我国农民工权利的保护仍存在诸多问题,各种歧视、克扣、剥夺农民工应得权益的现象依然普遍存在,通过法律路径保护农民工权利已变得刻不容缓,而司法救济又是其中最权威、最有效的一种路径。在司法救济方面一是要建立完善的民事诉讼机制,二是要构建健全的劳动争议处理模式,三是要建立完善的诉费救助制度,四是要建立完善的法律援助机制,以期农民工权利受损时能得到及时有效的救济。