On the afternoon of April 13,2019,at the invitation of the Law School of Yangzhou University,Professor Geertrui Van Overwalle from Leuven University in Belgium and Tilburg University in the Netherlands visited our school and gave an academic report entitled"Sharing Economy and Intellectual Property:A Comparison of Paths between China and Europe".
This report is one of the"Shengwang Rule of Law Forum"series of lectures.It was presided over by Wang Chengtang,Dean of our school.More than 200 people including some teachers,undergraduates,graduate students and young lawyers of Jiangsu Shengwang Law Firm listened to the report.
Firstly,Professor Geertrui Van Overwalle introduced the pros and cons of the current intellectual property protection system.The traditional intellectual property system,especially the patent right system,is a very exclusive system.In this kind of rights system,the rules of property rights are mainly adopted,which is non-transferable.The protection of patent rights adopts a form of affirmative protection.The right holder enjoys an exclusive and exclusive right.On the one hand,it acts as an incentive for the right holder,on the other hand,it may affect innovation.
Due to the nature of the patent thicket,entering the field of patents without knowing who the patent belongs to may inhibit inventions and creations,requiring a lot of negotiations to obtain the right to use the patent,and wasting a lot of resources.Therefore,whether patent rights promote or hinder innovation is worth thinking about.
Secondly,Professor Geertrui Van Overwalle put forward his own views on the basis of American scholars'papers.She believes that there are common tragedies and anti-commons tragedies in patent rights.The common tragedy is that everyone can use the patent unconditionally,while the anti-commons tragedy sets too many thresholds and underutilizes resources.Professor Geertrui Van Overwalle conducted an empirical analysis based on this theory and believed that in the field of patents,this anti-commons tragedy was strictly inaccurate.She analyzed the gene sequence and believed that patent rights might interfere with public resources under certain circumstances.If a large number of patents are genetically generated,latecomers who want to make genetic innovations must obtain the consent of the patentee.The tragedy of the anticommons has set more barriers for these latecomers,and no one can use these public resources.
Professor Geertrui Van Overwalle found that this theory is wrong,and that this contradiction can actually be resolved in a legal way.Patent holders may be willing to share their patents with others because of their own beliefs or high registration fees,making the achievements enter the public domain.At this time,a tragedy of the commons will occur and the private rights of the patent holders will be damaged,affecting innovation.For this reason,Professor Geertrui Van Overwalle put forward a new idea.If the patentee proposes a mode of sharing patents,the law should protect this mode.
Finally,Professor Geertrui Van Overwalle analyzed the case and found that this method has appeared in life,that is,through standardized agreements,universal authorization,without the consent of the patent right,he only needs to charge according to the patent right.From property rules to liability rules.As for whether this model is a voluntary model or a state-mandatory model,Professor Geertrui Van Overwalle believes that this is a selective system and a shared system.A certain amount of patent fees should be paid,which also provides incentives for other inventors to achieve Balance between personal interests and public interests.Of course,this system needs to provide an institutional framework at the legislative level,which is more conducive to legislators to reconcile the contradiction between the protection of the rights of patentees and the encouragement of innovation.
Professor Geertrui Van Overwalle's lecture was humorous,combined theory and case studies,and introduced the European intellectual property protection system to all participants.In the end,teacher Ma Hui from our school made a brief summary and comment on the report,and the report was successfully concluded with warm applause.
