The right to create labor based on the inventor's spirit is a natural right and inalienable, and its existence has nothing to do with state authorization. National laws only protect this right from infringement. National authorization only proves the inventor's existing natural rights.
2. Intangible property theory (property theory)
When people invent and create, it seems that a part of their life is integrated into this invention, and the infringement of this invention by others is considered as an infringement of the inventor's personal rights. This theory emphasizes the ideology of the fruits of invention labor and the essential characteristics of the inventor's rights, thus distinguishing the inventor's rights from the rights of the owner of the results, that is, clearly distinguishing the inventor's property rights and personal rights. The inventor's property right can be transferred, while the personal right is an inalienable right with the inventor.
3. Contract theory
In order to enable the inventor to control the implementation of the invention, the inventor should have the right to prohibit others from implementing it. To this end, inventors can sign contracts with the society. According to the contract, the inventor is obliged to disclose his technology in exchange for the exclusive right to use it. According to the contract theory, the patent system is a special contract system signed between the society and the inventor in the appearance of a country. For inventors, the monopoly right of open technology can compensate their labor and expenses spent in invention and creation activities, and can also obtain greater benefits. The benefits gained by society are manifested in the increase of new knowledge, which enriches science and technology and becomes the condition for its further development. After the expiration of the patent right, the invention will become the public wealth of the society and the public can use it for free. This theory encourages people to innovate, open up technology, and obtain the monopoly right of patents in order to create greater benefits.
4. Competition theory
The adjustment of national economic policy takes competition as the main means, and the patent law serving economic purposes is naturally inseparable from the competition mechanism. The role of competition is to eliminate backward enterprises in time, eliminate outdated technical methods and products, and adopt new methods to produce new products. The form of competition is not only reflected in the price, advertisement, novelty and quality of products in the market, but also includes the competition of scientific research and technology development to prepare for market competition. Scientific research and technological development have become decisive factors in the process of competition. Patent system is one of the important means to carry out scientific research competition, which not only promotes the development of competition, but also ensures the vital interests of competitors. Especially for the fields with long scientific research cycle and high starting point of invention, if we can use the competition mechanism created by the patent system, guide scientific research and production with the latest and most accurate patent technology information, and eliminate outdated technologies and methods in time, we can keep the technology in these fields in sync with the world advanced level.
5. Industrial policy theory
According to this theory, the patent system is a means to promote technological and economic progress, which emphasizes the interests of the public and society and puts the personal interests of inventors in a secondary position. Its main points are: (1) The patent system encourages enterprises to actively invest in technology development and invention implementation, thus promoting social technology and economic progress; (2) The patent system urges inventors to disclose their latest technologies to the world, so that the society can understand new technologies and knowledge as soon as possible, which is conducive to the exchange and dissemination of technical information, thus promoting industrial development; (3) If granting patent rights to some areas related to the national economy and people's livelihood will cause "abuse of rights" or the development of domestic industries, these areas can be temporarily excluded from patent protection, and the scope of protection will be relaxed after the scientific and technological level of these areas is improved, which is based on the overall interests of the country. (4) The level of patent protection is consistent with the level of economy and technology, and patent protection should be adjusted by public policies.
6. Interest balance theory
The patent system is regarded as a kind of interest distribution, legal choice and integration between the monopoly interests of the patentee and the public interests. Patent law itself is a system design to balance the monopoly interests and public interests of intellectual property rights holders, aiming at achieving an ideal balance between social interests that stimulate the demand for invention and creation. The balance of interests between the private interests and the public interests of the patentee is the cornerstone of the patent legal system. In the patent law, there is a contradiction between the patentee's exclusive right to his invention and creation and the public's legitimate demand for knowledge products. Reasonable arrangements should be made for the use, distribution and benefit sharing of knowledge products with dual attributes of public products and private products in order to realize the fair and just value goal of patent law. The clauses in the patent law that restrict patent rights, such as time limit, fair use and compulsory license, are the embodiment of the balance of interests.