如何应对专利“恐怖”主义(10): 我喜欢的一个英文单词

在美国专利法规的两个重要场合中出现单词“appear”。

第一个场合是当一个美国申请经审查要批准授权时，美国国会说 “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.” 这话的意思是，即使美国专利局审查过了，批准授权也只是看起来该批准授权。你可以认为这里隐含的意思是，绝对真理是难以企及的，专利权不是绝对的，授权因此有可能是错误的。这应该算对终极事实的一个尊重。

另一个场合是当美国专利局作为国际申请的Preliminary Examining Authority时。…“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”。这段话除了体现对终极事实的尊重外，还体现了对别的国家的主权的尊重。因为国际申请的审查意见对后面要进入的国家没有约束力，该否授权是随后各国的主权内的事。

对于受到专利恐怖威胁的公司或个人，这个单词体现了对你挑战专利威严的尊重。你不要被任何貌似appear强大的专利威胁所吓倒，应该拿起法律武器，勇敢地保卫自己的生意或事业。