초록 일부
[영문]
ABSTRACT*
A Study on Practical Application of Patent Law
regarding Medical method-related Inventions
Mi-Jeong Lee
The Graduate School of Intellectual Property Law
Chungnam Nationa...
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초록 전체
[영문]
ABSTRACT*
A Study on Practical Application of Patent Law
regarding Medical method-related Inventions
Mi-Jeong Lee
The Graduate School of Intellectual Property Law
Chungnam National University
Daejon, Korea
(Supervised by Professor Yu-Cheol Shin)
The controversy about patenting medical care related inventions is very old.
Allowing patents on medical methods (i.e. treatment method, surgical method, and diagnostic method) would interfere with doctors' practice, while prohibiting patents on medical methods
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* A thesis submitted to the committee of the Graduate School of Intellectual Property Law, Chungnam National University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Law Conferred in August 2002.
might limit the development of biotechnological medical procedures which need investment of vast amounts of capital.
Although the Korean patent law doesn't have apparent provisions to prohibit medical patents, medical method-related inventions are regarded as inventions which comprise a part of human body as essential components and subsequently don't have industrial applicability. Thus medical method-related inventions cannot be patented in Korea.
This way of patent law application with regard to medical method-related inventions may not be suitable to the current circumstances in which biotechnological inventions are getting increased, for most biotechnological inventions are substantially related to medical methods even if the parts of human body are not essential components of the invention.
In European Patent Convention, medical method-related inventions are not the subject of protection.
In the United States, medical methods can be patented, but medical activities of a medical practitioner or a related health care entity don't constitute infringement. What is specially noteworthy is that the use of a patented medical machine and the practice of a process in violation of a biotechnology patent can constitute infringement.
Therefore, it is considerable not only to newly provide that medical method-related inventions are not the subject of protection in the patent law, but also to allow to issue patents on medical method-related inventions and then to confine patent fee within the limits of reasonable levels denpending on the development stages of medical and biotechnological fields in Korea.
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