Patent Infringement Judgment The Application Of The Doctrine Of Equivalents

Doctrine of equivalence (DOE) is one of the most important principle in patent system. Actually it can be referred back to the principle of fairness which is fundamental to the civil law symstem. DOE has already been vastly employed in the field of patent infringement determination, it is crucial to determine the protectable range of patent right and also to provide an effective protection for the legal rights of patent owner.However, it is inevitable to have some subjective elements involved in the detailed application. process of DOE, because the judgment of equivalence of is not a simple logical judgment about right or wrong, rather a consideration on the balance of benefits belonged by different groups among the society. Such kind of value judgment undoubtedly is largely depending on the social and academic experience of those who made the judgment. In a word, it is nearly impossible to establish a fixed model for the determination of equivalence.Still, it is quite necessary to make some crucial points clear when deciding equivalent, such as on whose perspective will this judgment proceed, which elements will be sorted out for comparison, which time context will this judgment take place. The second chapter of this thesis will explore more following the roadmap aforementioned.Besides, due to the unclearness of the DOE itself, it may damage the public benefits to some extent, therefore, it is necessary to impose some limitation on the application of DOE, the Doctrine of Estoppels and the Public Art Counterplea are the two major ways to put restriction on DOE, that is exactly what the third chapter of the thesis will cover.