Research On The Doctrine Of Equivalent In Patent Infringement Judge

The purpose of the establishment of the patent system is to protect patent rights, to encourage invention-creation, to promote scientific and technological progress and innovation to meet the needs of socialist modernization. Doctrine of equivalent (DOE) is brought about with the development process of the patent system. As a very important judgment principle, it arose from the jurisprudence of the United States. The fundamental goal of the DOE is to protect the patentee's lawful rights and interests, avoid others infringe the patent though non-substantive changes. However, the DOE inevitably have a tendency to apply the protection of patentee, which should be rational limited in practice. At present, the DOE is an important principle at the case of patent infringement in many countries. It gets gradually to be applied extensively in our country's judicatory, have a rich system in practice. However, provision of the DOE is lack in our patent law, so is the uniform criteria of patent infringement.There are three types of patents: inventions, utility models and designs. This article mainly deals with apply of the DOE in invention and utility model patent infringement. In addition to the introduction and conclusion, this paper has four parts:The first party is the concept and status of the DOE. First of all, I discuss the concept so that we have a basic understanding. The competency of patent is the contents of patent protection, which determined in specific patent infringement cases through the scope of patent protection. Finally, I expatiate on the important role of the DOE in the patent law and patent infringement judge.The second part is the selection and development of the DOE. First of all introduce the background of the principle. Then describe the development of countries in Anglo-American Legal System. Finally introduce the use of some civil law countries.The third part is the application of the principle. First of all discuss the problem encountering in specific apply: the subject standard, the object standard, the judgment of equivalent, the judgment of time. Then analyze the limits in applying the DOE. So insure the applying of the DOE protect the interests of the patentee without prejudice to the interests of the public.The fourth party is consummate of the DOE. It introduces the present situation about legislation and administration of the DOE in our country, and gives some pieces of advices to expedite our DOE system.