The patent system makes it possible for innovative products to obtain high profits by providing inventors with exclusive rights. American patent law is a federal law, which is enacted by Congress. Detailed rules for the implementation of the Patent Law and guidelines for examination shall be formulated by the Patent and Trademark Office. The provisions of the patent law are relatively broad, involving specific contents (including the scope of patent protection), which are often stipulated in the detailed rules. The Patent and Trademark Office usually drafts the implementation rules according to the needs of American economic and technological development and publishes them on the Internet to consult the opinions of the public, professional lawyers and agents, so as to determine the practicality and operability of the implementation rules. This makes the American patent system flexible and operable to a great extent.
2. Emphasis on granting the patent to the first patent inventor.
It is emphasized that the patent should be awarded to the first patent inventor, not the first patent applicant, that is to say, even if you register the patent first, you can't guarantee that you can get the patent, which fully embodies the principle of fairness. The scope of patent protection in the United States is constantly expanding. For example, at present, some major countries and regions in the world are still arguing fiercely about whether genetic technology can be patented. The United States has entered the stage of how to grant patents, and proposed to give full patent protection to online business methods and genetic technology. Patent litigation in the United States is expensive, but the punishment for patent infringers is also great. Strict legal provisions and strict judicial system effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of patentees, which fully embodies that the essence of the patent system is to stimulate innovation and promote technological progress.
3. Emphasize the combination of patents and standards
Standards originally belonged to the field of technical standardization, but the United States skillfully combined the patent system with technical standards to make it take advantage of technology and occupy a strong position in intellectual property rights. Whoever has the right to formulate technical standards will have the initiative in the market. Therefore, some high-tech companies in the United States often make conventional things into international standards first, then set all the standard paths as patents for registration, and finally occupy the market. Moreover, due to the increasingly close relationship between patents and standards, developed countries and multinational companies are trying to turn patents into standards in order to obtain the greatest economic benefits. Therefore, standardization has become the highest form of patent technology pursuit. In addition, developed countries set up technical barriers to trade for products from other countries by controlling internationalization standards.
4. Linking patents with trade
Patent trade occupies a considerable proportion in American foreign trade and plays an important role in preventing goods from other countries from entering the American market. The scope of patent protection is actually a problem of monopolizing the market. At present, many companies in developed countries are gaining the dominant position of patents, which makes it difficult for new companies and researchers to enter, especially to curb the space for technological innovation in developing countries. To this end, the United States vigorously develops patent trade, and uses this strategy to prevent other countries' goods from entering the American market and facilitate American goods to occupy foreign markets. According to the statistics of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the revenue from patent transfer has been one of the fastest growing profit sources for IBM. In 2000, IBM's total profit was $8 1 billion, and patent transfer accounted for $654,380+0.7 billion. More and more companies realize that patents have begun to appear as a commodity in the international trade market. Especially in recent years, some developed countries have vigorously promoted the internationalization of patent examination, breaking the geographical restrictions of patent examination. A few countries are responsible for patent examination and patent granting, while others only need to recognize the examination results. This situation will greatly inhibit the innovation ability of developing countries, and even pose a threat to their national economic security because of excessive dependence on foreign patented technology.
5. The principle is that whoever invests will benefit.
The United States is allowed to apply for patents for genetic information and enterprise software, and areas that were not previously protected by patents, such as mathematical problem solving, computer software, cryptography and decoding human genetic genes, are becoming patents one after another. Intellectual property management helps to encourage private enterprises to increase investment in R&D and innovation, but it also has negative effects. In the short term, R&D may be used for projects with low social benefits, thus reducing its productivity and affecting the investment efficiency of R&D; In the long run, even if strengthening intellectual property management will not reduce the productivity of R&D, too extensive intellectual property rights may stifle the next wave of business innovation. For example, the patent right of gene technology basically belongs to the patent right of basic scientific knowledge. Although this knowledge may be the basis for further research, the rights of the original patent holder will hinder the further use of this technology.
The American patent system emphasizes encouraging innovation and promoting technological progress, and holds that excessive patent protection will lead to monopoly. Therefore, when the United States establishes a protection system, it imposes restrictions on legislation. Paragraph 8 of Article 1 of the American Constitution stipulates that "Congress has the right to promote the development of science and technology by giving authors exclusive rights to their works and inventions for a limited time. This shows that the protection of intellectual property rights was considered in the drafting of the American Constitution, but its purpose is not to protect but to promote the development of science and technology, and this trend has been continuously strengthened in the era of knowledge economy. There is also a phenomenon in the protection of patents: on the one hand, the phenomenon of intellectual infringement is more serious, on the other hand, the trend of monopoly is getting faster and more serious, and monopoly patents are just like monopoly commodities. For example, Microsoft has formed a monopoly position in such a short time, which shows that the conflict between personal interests and social interests is getting worse and worse in the field of knowledge. While emphasizing the protection of intellectual property rights, the United States also emphasizes the restrictions on the abuse of patent strategies. 1In May 1998, the US government sued Microsoft in the dock, which is an example. The American government believes that if a successful person abuses his rights, national laws should intervene to safeguard the interests of the public, society and consumers.