특허권 및 전용실시권의 개념 재정립

On the question whether, under the current Korean patent law, a patent right contains a self-exploitation right as well as an exclusive right,this paper negatively answers on following reasons: (1) the Patent Act cannot bestow the inventor applicant with the self-exploitation right which was originally and already his/her right under the natural right theory, (2)TRIPs Agreement Art. 28 prescribes patent right as an exclusive right, (3)other countries, such as the U.S.A. and China, clearly explain so and (4)especially the European Patent Office clearly explains that it is a common misconception that a patent gives its owner the right to make use of his invention. Based on such reasons, this paper strongly proclaims that relevant articles of the Korean Patent Act, such as articles 94, 98, 100,102, be accordingly amended. If the patent right is a mere exclusive right without self-exploitation right, the right of an exclusive licensee must be within such patent right. Then, to answer the concept of an exclusive license right, this paper further comparatively analyzes laws of the U.S.A., France, Germany and the U.K. Based such study, it could be concluded that (1) the U.S.A. determines exclusive license right not based on the face name of a license agreement but based on assignment of all substantial rights, (2)France puts the exclusive license slightly under the patent right, (3)Germany does over the patent right and (4) the U.K. positions an exclusive license right as the same as the patent right. Current Korean Patent Act seems to follow the U.K. style, considering that many provisions put "or exclusive licensee" after "patentee". If the Korean Patent Act positions the exclusive license right as the same as the patent right, an exclusive licensee may be considered to have the same right as a co-owner of the patent right. Then, determining whether an exclusive licensee alone has standng for a lawsuit, we can look whether a co-owner alone has standing in the same situation. Unfortunately, however, current Korean law is not clear on the standing of a co-owner alone. Therefore, to determine standing of an exclusive licensee, we must wait until the standing issue of a co-owner be resolved.