지적재산권 보호의 국제적 부조화 및 그 법적 과제

Abstract

Since the first patent system was introduced in Venice, 1474, various systems for the protection of intellectual properties have been developed and adopted by the countries around the world. There have been, however, many problems due to the disharmony between the protection systems as information can be exchanged easily without limit. Efforts have been made to relieve the differences and to harmonize the systems up to now. Moreover a unification of patent system around the world is under discussion these days. In this thesis, international differences in the protection of intellectual properties and the legal issues regarding the differences are discussed with emphasis on the patent system, which is the most important one among the protection systems for intellectual properties. To be specific, international differences in the subject matters of patent systems, first-to-file and first-to- invent policies determining a prior invent, criteria for the determination of novelty and inventive step, drafting and interpretation of claims, are discussed respectively. International differences in the handling of plant patent, computer program- related invention, bioengineering and medical inventions are also discussed. Most differences in the patent system are closely related to the disharmony of first-to-file system and first-to-invent system that is uniquely adopted by the United States. Harmonization between the two systems would be critical to reduce the international discrepancy in the protection of intellectual properties.