Patent Parallel Imports Of Certain Legal Issues

Whether Parallel Imports of patented products or products made by patented process (Patent Parallel Imports) infringe the Patent in import market is an intractable and pending problem faced by all the countries in the world. The problem requires a delicate balance of interests between patentee and the public. Allowing Patent Parallel Imports means the exclusive rights of patentee is impaired, but banning it tends to strengthen the monopoly of patentee and impedes trade free flow. Each country has its own attitude and theory on this problem, which reflects different value orientation, and is also influenced by the trend of international practice and the opinions of international organization. Meanwhile, the restrictive clauses appearing in the patent licensing trade may fall in the scope of anti-trust law or competition law. Therefore, probing into the problem of Patent Parallel Imports contributes to perfect Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection, promote global free trade and oppose monopoly.It is an important issue on lawmaking and law executing in China after its acceding to WTO to perfect its IPR protection. China shall treat Patent Parallel Imports in caution. As a developing country, China shall study theory as well as international practice carefully, then take right measures to deal with disputes in patent infringement and resolve parallel imports problem appearing in international trade.The main body of this paper consists of six chapters.Chapter Ⅰ is about basic concept and forms of Patent Parallel Imports The main forms are resale, unauthorized imports, and parallel competition between authorized imports and unauthorized imports. The theory for or against Patent Parallel Imports is " Patent International Exhaustion" or " Patent Domestic Exhaustion". This Chapter provides academic foundation for the following study.Chapter Ⅱ introduces sorts of theory and practice in some countries. Practice is various but flexibility is the soul. Though the attitude of international organization is ambiguous and self-determination right is left to each country, international organization took efforts to reach initial agreements on parallel imports of pharmaceutical products concerning public health. This Chapter provides practice foundation for the following study.Chapter Ⅲ regards patent system as a typical balancing system. In the Parallel Imports, the opinions for or against Patent Parallel Imports depends how to balance encouragement on innovation and spreading, how to balance patentee's monopoly and...