The Role of Patent Utilization for Technology Innovation and Legal Improvement

기술혁신에 있어서 특허활용의 역할 및 법제도적 개선방안

Innovation is the development of new customers value through solutions that meet new needs, inarticulate needs, or old customer and market needs in value adding new ways. This is accomplished through more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are readily available to markets, governments, and society. Innovation differs from invention in that innovation refers to the use of a better and, as a result, novel idea or method, whereas invention refers more directly to the creation of the idea or method itself. Therefore, the utilization of patents is the most important of the three aspects (creation, protection and utilization) in the patent system for getting to actual innovation. In order to increase the patent use, the rates of the applied patents to a real industrial process and the bargain and license of patent rights should be promoted. For promoting technological innovation substantially, there is necessary to escape from dichotomy of weakening or enhancing patent protection in the discussion on the changes of patent system for "Adequate patent guarantees". Furthermore, the legal and institutional improvements to enable the use of patent should be discussed together. Recently, open innovation is a new paradigm that assumes that firms can and should use external ideas as well as internal ideas, and internal and external paths to market, as the firms look to advance their technology" or "Innovating with partners by sharing risk and sharing reward." The boundaries between a firm and its environment have become more permeable; innovations can easily transfer inward and outward. The central idea behind open innovation is that in a world of widely distributed knowledge, companies cannot afford to rely entirely on their own research, but should instead buy or license processes or inventions (i.e. patents) from other companies. In addition, internal inventions not being used in a firm's business should be taken outside the company. In the era of open innovation, more flexible patent use strategy is essential. It is important that improvements for the legal system in order that patented technology can be applied for products and processes in a real industrial between outside and inside of the firms.

특허제도는 그 작용 국면에 따라 창출 보호 활용의 세 가지 측면으로 나뉘며, 이 세 측면의 효율성을 함께 높이는 선순환 사이클을 만드는 방향으로 설계되고 운영되어야 한다. 특허제도를 통한 기술혁신은 특허 창출만으로는 부족하고, 실제 제품이나 공정에 새로운 기술이 적용되는 사업화 단계 및 시장에서의 채택 확산 과정인 특허활용 단계의 성공으로 완성된다. 특허권 보호강화 정책은 특허보호대상을 확대하여 특허출원 건수를 증가시키나, 이것이 모두 산업현장에 적용되어 기술혁신의 달성에 이용되는 것은 아니며, 경쟁사의 이용배제 또는 타사의 특허공격으로부터 대비하기 위한 방어목적 보유 특허의 건수도 증가시킨다. 기술혁신의 성공을 위해서는 실제 특허기술이 산업현장에서 '활용'되어야 하고, 이러한 특허기술의 활용도 분석에는 '실제 산업공정에 적용하고 있는 특허기술의 비율'과 '기술이전 및 사업화를 위한 특허권 매매 및 라이선스 비율' 등이 중요하다. 실질적인 기술혁신 촉진을 도모하는 '적정한 특허권 보장'을 위한 특허제도 변화에 대한 논의는 특허 보호의 강화 또는 약화의 이분법적 논의에서 탈피해 특허기술의 '활용'을 활성화하기 위한 제도적 개선에 대한 논의가 더불어 이루어져야 한다.