The principle of equivalence in judging the infringement of invention patent and utility model patent

According to the provisions of the Patent Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), the scope of protection of a patent for invention or utility model shall be subject to the content of its claim, and the description and drawings can be used to interpret the claim. This provision means that the scope of protection of the claims is subject to the scope determined by the necessary technical features clearly recorded in the claims, and of course it also includes the scope determined by the same features as the necessary technical features. Equivalence principle for judging the infringement of invention patent and utility model patent The so-called equivalent feature refers to the feature that can achieve the same function and effect by basically the same means as the technical feature recorded in the invention patent or utility model patent claim, and at the same time requires technicians in their technical fields to associate it without creative labor. The principle of equivalence between invention patent and utility model patent infringement is a method for people's courts to determine whether the products sued by the plaintiff constitute patent infringement according to the above means and the contents of claims, specifications and drawings. There are several ways for people's courts to judge whether litigation products are infringed by the principle of equivalence: 1. After a simple shift of product parts or a simple change of the order of method steps, if the product or ordinary technicians in the field of this method think that there is no essential difference between them and the patented technology is basically the same, then the product can basically be identified as infringement; Second, equivalent replacement. The technical features recorded in the claims also have corresponding technical features in the products or methods accused of infringement. These two technical features have basically the same function or effect in the product or method, and ordinary technicians in this technical field generally know that these two technical features can be replaced with each other, and the people's court can determine that the litigation product is infringing; 3. Decomposition or merger of technical features. Decomposition refers to replacing one technical feature recorded in the patent claim of the infringed product with two technical features of the accused infringing product or method; Merger means that one technical feature of the product or method infringed by litigation replaces one or two technical features recorded in the patent claim of the infringed product. If ordinary technicians in this technical field can realize the positive effect of patented technology without creative labor after merger or decomposition, the people's court may consider it as equivalent infringement.