如何應對專利“恐怖”主義(10): 我喜歡的一個英文單詞

在美國專利法規的兩個重要場合中出現單詞“appear”。

第一個場合是當一個美國申請經審查要批準授權時，美國國會說 “The Director shall cause an examination to be made of the application and the alleged new invention; and if on such examination it appears that the applicant is entitled to a patent under the law, the Director shall issue a patent therefor”. 以及 “If it appears that applicant is entitled to a patent under the law, a written notice of allowance of the application shall be given or mailed to the applicant.” 這話的意思是，即使美國專利局審查過了，批準授權也隻是看起來該批準授權。你可以認為這裏隱含的意思是，絕對真理是難以企及的，專利權不是絕對的，授權因此有可能是錯誤的。這應該算對終極事實的一個尊重。

另一個場合是當美國專利局作為國際申請的Preliminary Examining Authority時。…“The United States Patent and Trademark Office, when acting as an International Preliminary Examining Authority, will be identified by the full title “United States International Preliminary Examining Authority” or by the abbreviation “IPEA/US.” ...The major functions of the International Preliminary Examining Authority include: … (6) Providing an international preliminary examination report which is a non-binding opinion on the questions of whether the claimed invention appears: to be novel, to involve an inventive step (to be nonobvious), and to be industrially applicable”。這段話除了體現對終極事實的尊重外，還體現了對別的國家的主權的尊重。因為國際申請的審查意見對後麵要進入的國家沒有約束力，該否授權是隨後各國的主權內的事。

對於受到專利恐怖威脅的公司或個人，這個單詞體現了對你挑戰專利威嚴的尊重。你不要被任何貌似appear強大的專利威脅所嚇倒，應該拿起法律武器，勇敢地保衛自己的生意或事業。