IP历史上的今天——1978年6月1日 英国新修订的《专利法1977》正式生效

June 1, 1978 was the enforcement date of the newly amended the Patents Act 1977 of the United Kingdom. As one of the oldest civilized nations, the patent legislation of the UK has played an important role in offering guidance to the development of the European patent systems or even the whole world.

1978年6月1日，是英国新修订的《专利法1977》实施的日子。英国作为一个最古老的法制国家之一，其专利立法对于整个欧洲乃至世界专利制度的发展都有着重要的指导作用。

The patent system originated from the granting of royal "franchises", which was an ancient issue closely related to the influence of the early royal power on society and had a deep relationship with the historical tradition of England at that time.

专利制度的产生来源于古老的王室“特许权”的授予问题，这与早期王室的权力对社会的影响息息相关，与当时的英国历史传统有着深刻的关系。

1

英国与专利制度的发源

UK and the origin of the patent system

With unique geographical location, as it is separated from the European continent by the English Channel, UK not only differs greatly from the European countries in terms of royal tradition, but also, has formed its unique common law system independently from the Roman law system- the legislation basis of many European countries.

与欧陆各国不同的是，英国的地理位置较为特殊，其与欧洲大陆隔着英吉利海峡遥遥相望，故英国不仅在王室传统上与欧陆各国差异很大，并且，在欧陆各国均在罗马法的基础上进行立法的时候，英国独立于罗马法系形成了其独有的普通法系（又称海洋法系）。

英国普通法的早期改革者：爱德华一世

In medieval time, any form of the king's grant in UK, whether it is land, honor, freedom, privilege or other, can be granted in the form of the king's charter, and under the special system of common law, rights cannot come without the writ issued by the crown, and the writ as an adjective has a similar meaning with the word patent--"obvious, significant". Among the king's charters in different kinds, one is in the form of a "letters patent" with the stamp of the king or queen at the bottom. Since "patent" comes from the Latin word with the meaning "open, not concealed," this type of charter was called a patent charter, which was not sealed and was intended to be openly known to anyone who wanted to know that the person had been granted with exclusive enjoyment or ownership of an invention. This was the earliest expression of a patent.

在中世纪的英国，任何形式的国王赐予，无论是土地、荣誉、自由、特权还是其它，都可以国王的特许状的形式授予，且在英国特色的普通法的体系下，没有王室颁发的令状就没有权利，而令状 writ 在形容词的词义上与 patent 就有着相近的意义，都有“明显、显著”之意。在国王的特许状授予中，其中有一种是“letters patent”的形式，底部盖有国王或王后的玺印。由于“patent”来源于拉丁文，本意就是“公开的，不隐瞒的”，所以这种特许状当时被称为专利特许状，这种特许状并不密封，目的是公开地想要其他人知道某人已经被授予某一发明的独家享用或所有权，这便是专利最早的表现形式。

中世纪的欧洲皇室

Originally, "letters patent" had granted some important dignitaries or merchants, the royal family's ministers, etc. with some privileges of trade and the franchise of the relevant goods, but when the interests of the British royal collided with the interests of the nobility and commoners, the above-mentioned authorizations were subjected to certain restrictions. Therefore, patent, from the initial broad sense of patent monopoly rights for various commodities or a certain geographical area, became an exclusive manufacturing and business right specifically for advanced technology after the enactment and implementation of the Statute of Monopolies.

本来“letters patent”曾经授予过一些重要的达官贵人或商人、王室的近臣等一些贸易的特权和有关商品的特许经营权，但在英国王室的利益与贵族、平民的利益发生冲突的时候，以上的各种授权就会受到一定的限制。因此，patent 从最开始广泛意义的对各种商品或某地域范围的专利专卖权，经过《垄断法案》的颁布实施之后，就变成了专门针对先进技术的一种专享制造、经营权。

2

英国专利法的立法变迁

 Legislative Changes of Patent Law in UK

In the 17th century, with the grow of the sense of freedom and equality among the nobility and the commoners, the class conflicts in UK became sharper. And after struggling among the three classes (the commoners, the nobility, the royal), the royal power was restricted and the Statute of Monopolies was enacted in 1624 to restrict the royal authorization.

17世纪，随着贵族和平民们自由平等意识能够在英国产生并不断增强，平民、贵族、王室这三个阶级之间的阶级矛盾开始锐化，经过三个社会阶层相互之间的斗争，王权受到限制，限制王室授权内容的《垄断法案》得以在1624年颁布实施。

*注：对于《垄断法案》，业内有不同的称法，有学者将其成为1623《垄断法案》，但其实际是由议会于1624年5月29日通过的。

《垄断法案》

The Statute of Monopolies of 1624 limited the legal patent monopoly to new inventions and set out the conditions of the technical subject matter (novel and mature new technology), the patentee (the first true inventor), and the patent protection period (14 years) for invention patents, leading the patent system to a new track. The word "patent" in English weakened its original meaning of "disclosure" and gradually became synonymous with patent for invention. This statute is regarded as the earliest patent legislation in England, and is also regarded as a symbol of the initial establishment of the modern patent system.

英国于 1624 年颁布的《垄断法案》将合法的专利垄断限于新发明，规定了发明专利的技术主题（新颖而成熟的新技术）、专利权人（第一个真正的发明人）、专利期限（14年）等条件，引领专利制度走向了新的轨道。而英语中patent一词减弱了原有的“公开”含义，逐渐成为发明专利的代名词。这部法案被视为英国最早的专利立法文本，同时也被视为现代专利制度初步建立的标志。

《垄断法案》制定时英国在位的国王：詹姆斯一世

However, due to the limitation of national conditions and the historical background, the UK did not become the first country that fully modernized the patent system.

但是受制于国情和时代背景，英国并没有成为第一个真正将专利制度现代化的国家。

As The Statute of Monopolies gradually established the British patent system in practice, although many customary practices were recognized by the law, the British patent system still had some drawbacks such as emphasizing the procedures but not the substances, which was in urgent need of further reformations. However, various relevant legal documents of the same period all failed to solve this problem, and the improvements were made in 1852 when The Patent Law Amendment Act was promulgated and implemented.

在《垄断法案》使英国的专利制度在实践中逐渐确立后，虽然许多习惯性作法得到了法律的认可，但英国的专利制度还存在着重程序、轻实体的弊病，亟待进一步改革。但是，同时期的各种相关法律文件未能很好解决这个问题，直到1852年英国《专利法修正案》颁布实施才得到了改善。

The final establishment of the modern patent system in UK was marked by the enactment and implementation of The Patent Law Amendment Act of 1852. The Patent Law Amendment Act of 1852 was not only one of the fruits of judicial reformations in the UK, but also a summary of a series of changes in the patent field in recent decades, for example, the legislation retained the classification of patents realized between 1842 and 1843 according to "invention patents", "utility model patents" and "design patents", which was the beginning of the three-division method of patent types used by many countries currently.

英国现代意义上的专利制度最终的确立标志是 1852 年的《专利法修正案》的颁布。这部修正案正式设立了专利局，使所有专利事务都在一个机构完成，简化了专利的申请审查等程序，实现了专利相关的费用的大幅缩减。1852年《专利法修正案》不仅仅是英国司法改革的硕果之一，还是对近几十年英国专利领域一系列变革的总结，如立法中保留了1842-1843 年间实现的专利按照“发明专利”、“实用新型专利”和“外观设计专利”进行分类，这是许多国家沿用至今的专利种类三分法的开端。

1852《专利法修正案》

The British patent system underwent many revisions and reforms after 1852. In the following decades, with the emergence of various new technologies and the introduction of new foreign systems as well as the new development of the patent management and judicial system, the British patent-related laws and regulations were frequently revised and promulgated, and the most prominent ones were the patent laws promulgated or revised in 1907, 1947 and 1977. Since Patents and industrial property rights, trademarks and copyrights have appeared many overlapping problems, later in 1988 the UK began to integrate the related laws and regulations to adjust the rules of the whole intellectual property field.

英国的专利制度在1852年之后经历了非常多的修订和改革，之后的几十年里，随着各种新技术的出现和国外新制度的引进以及专利管理和司法体系的新发展，英国与专利有关的法规频频修改和颁布，而比较突出的就是1907年、1947年、1977年等时期颁布或修改的专利法，由于专利又与工业产权、商标和版权出现了诸多重合的问题，后来到了1988年，英国开始将有关专利的法律法规与版权法、商标法综合起来对整个知识产权领域的规则进行调整。

来源：互联网综合