학술논문

论中国(上海) 自由贸易区中的过境知识产权与平行进口问题
On the Issues concerning Intellectual Property in Transit Goods and Parallel Imports in China(Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone
론중국(상해) 자유무역구중적과경지식산권여평행진구문제
Document Type
Article
Text
Source
동북아법연구, 09/30/2014, Vol. 8, Issue 2, p. 161-175
Subject
Shanghai FTZ
Intellectual property(IP)
Transit Parallel import
Infringement of IP
上海自贸区 知识产权 过境 平行进口 侵权
Language
중국어(CHI)
ISSN
1976-5037
Abstract
中国(上海)自由贸易区是一个根据中国法律法规在中国境内设立的区域性经济特区,属于自贸区中的FTZ,即在一国国内或一个关税区内,消除了关税和贸易配额、并且对经济的行政干预较小的部分领土。便利货物过境是上海自贸区的重要功能之一,其不可避免地涉及过境货物的知识产权问题。该问题主要表现在两个大方面:一是过境贸易中的知识产权问题,一是平行进口问题。对于前者,由于自贸区“境内关外”的监管模式可以让进口货物直接进入自贸区,省去了海关实施知识产权保护、扣留可能侵权货物的措施,知识产权侵权可能会频频发生,国际商会“反假冒和盗版商业行动”2013年5月发布的《监管自贸区:平衡贸易便利和打击世界自贸区非法贸易之控制》研究报告证明了这一点。其中,最常见的现象是:不法分子利用海关等在自贸区放松监管等机会,将违法、侵权产品通过乔装改扮、粉饰包装(如篡改运输单据、隐匿非法货物原产地、来源、内容、运往目的地等)等手段,洗白身份,然后伪装成有合法来源的产品出口到自贸区所在国之外的国家。这样,在下一个转口港或目的地海关就不容易发现其非法来源和违法行为,进而使该类产品在有关市场上合法销售,既损害知识产权人的权益又损害消费者权益,给社会带来不公影响。其次是来源地为侵权的产品进入自贸区过境是否违法这一现象较为复杂。学者之间的观点颇不统一。有人认为,依据知识产权地域性特征等,只要侵权产品不进入中国市场,原则上不应该视为侵权。经过分析,我们主张,在中国统一主权下,尽管自贸区与其他区域有所区别,但统一主权下的管理不应受到任何影响;而且,为便于上海自贸区良好声誉的建立及在促进国际贸易制度更为健康的发展及保护各方当事人合法权益作出积极贡献,只要产品制造、加工的源头存在侵权行为,不论其流向最终到哪里,它们都是有瑕疵的产品,理应受到制止。为此,对于过境或转运中的知识产权侵权行为,应当在参照有关国家做法,在明知产品属于侵权产品的情形下,海关或自贸区执法机构应当采取执法措施(中止放行、退回原地或就地销毁)。同时,为有效实施知识产权法,除了自贸区日常执法外,有关执法机构应与海关建立信息共享等机制,跟踪进入自贸区内有关过境物品在区内的动态,减少或避免知识产权侵权行为的发生,或侵权产品的出关。平行进口方面,对于专利产品,我国专利法允许平行进口;在自贸区内,应该也不例外。在商标和版权领域,中国法律均无明确规定,由此给在自贸区内采取措施留下灵活空间。由于自贸区的特殊定位,在其内的商标平行进口问题,应该“以允许为原则、以禁止为例外”,即如果商品在入境时清楚标明了真实来源及有合法使用基础,利于消费者权利和公平竞争环境形成,且商品质量等在境内外基本相同,则应当允许平行进口;除非该行为违反了反不正当竞争法。版权方面,实践中,国际用尽原则得到默示,平行进口应该是被允许的;为此,在自贸区内,原则上允许版权产品的平行进口,并赋予其应有的法律地位,但当其可能产生不正当竞争而给相关权利人带来损害时,可利用反不正当竞争法等给予救济。
China(Shanghai)Pilot Free Trade Zone (Shanghai FTZ) is a regional special economic zone established in accordance with China's domestic laws and regulation, which is categorized as a free trade zone (not a free trade area, FTZ). That means that it is small part territory of a country or an independent tariff zone in which the tariffs and trade quotas are abolished and the administrative intervention is limited to the minimum. One of Shanghai FTZ's functions is to facilitate goods to pass through the territory of a country or a tariff zone more quickly and unhindered, and in this process, the issues on intellectual property concerning transit good are unavoidable. The issues in this aspect contain two big ones: one is involving intellectual property issues of transit goods and the other is concerning parallel imports. As for the former, owing to the monitoring model of " outside the customs and within the boundary "in Shanghai FTZ, the transit goods may be transported into FTZ directly without customs inspection, and the ordinary measures of enforcing IP protection and customs detention will not be taken, and thus the infringement of IP will occur frequently, which has been demonstrated by the report "Controlling the Zone: Balancing Facilitation and Control to Combat Illicit Trade in the World’s Free Trade Zones" made by BASCAP of International Chamber of Commerce in May, 2013. Among all kinds of infringements, the following is the most serious: the outlaws take advantages of loose custom inspection to disguise the origins of the transit goods infringing intellectual property rights to make them legal products, and then to transport to other countries or regions. This makes it difficult to find the real situations of the products in the ports or customs of next countries, and further, the products can be sold in the market legitimately, which in a result does harm both to the intellectual property right holders and to the consumers. And the second most serious problem is that whether the goods infringing the IP right holder's interests in their origins when they are produced shall be regarded as illegal ones or not. The scholars take different opinions on this issue, and some uphold that on the basis one of the IP characteristics, that is, territoriality, they shall not be regarded as illegal ones only if they are not permitted to enter into the domestic market. However, according to our analysis, it may be more reasonable that under China's integrate sovereignty, they shall be regarded as illegal ones and shall be detained, though there are differences between FTZ and other regions. Furthermore, in order to establish a good fame of Shanghai FTZ and make it play active role in promoting the international trade system to grow more soundly, any illegal products shall be inspected and taken measures to. Meanwhile, besides the routine enforcement of IP laws, the administrative organs in Shanghai FTZ and the customs shall establish the information sharing mechanism to follow the track of the products to avoid IP infringement. As for parallel imports, according to Patent Law of China, parallel imports of patented products are allowed, and there is no exception in FTZ. In the fields of trademark and copyright, there are no clear provisions concerning their parallel imports, which may leave flexible room for FTZ to cope with the issues. Generally, in FTZ, the doctrine of "permission as the fundamental principle while prohibition as exceptions" shall be applied.