미국특허법상 특허권 남용(Patent Misuse)의 법리 -공정거래법 위반과의 관계를 중심으로 -

The Supreme Court established patent misuse doctrine based on the public policy (or interest) under patent law, and tried to widen the area of application. And the Supreme Court made clear that patent misuse doctrine was distinguished with antitrust violation. However, the Congress limited the scope of patent misuse doctrine twice by the revision of the Patent Act. After the establishment of the Federal Circuit in 1982, it has opined regarding patent misuse. The Federal Circuit required to show that the patentee has "impermissibly broadened the physical or temporal scope of the patent grant with anticompetitive effect." And it also adopted rule of reason analysis. The standards adopted by the Federal Circuit made it more difficult to satisfy, and as a result reduced the scope of application of patent misuse doctrine. The focus of criticism is placed on the fact that the Federal Circuit uses the antitrust principles notwithstanding the Supreme Court's opinion that patent misuse doctrine is distinguished with antitrust violation. Given the Federal Circuit's approach, the difference between patent misuse and antitrust violation is only the scope of application. This approach is not reasonable on the ground that patent misuse is originated from the inherent purpose of patent law and it can be applied to non-antitrust circumstances. Therefore, it is needed to adopt more flexible standard for patent misuse which can be applied beyond antitrust violation.