原创 专利官司中体验美国律师的风格

专利官司中体验美国律师的风格---创新之路有多难，经历过才知道（四）

    文章更新的可能有点慢了，一是平常工作重，如前所述，打官司毕竟是业余搞；二是这些年也很难找到知音，走这条路的人在中国少之又少，涉及集成电路EDA领域的就更是没听过了，所以不知道大家是否感兴趣。
    上次（http://forum.eet-cn.com/BLOG_ARTICLE_2636.HTM）谈到了一些成功人士的创业途径，对于一些沉迷于技术的人来说，往往缺乏其它背景和资源，似乎也只能靠法律的支持了，过往的国外成功案例也往往印证这一点。但真正自己走起来，却发现情况要远远复杂过想象。在这旷日持久的诉讼中，体会到一些美国律师的风格。
    1，专业
    他们在收到法院传票后，美国公司的法务人员立刻成立了处理团队，然后聘请了一家在中国和美国都有业务的跨国律师事务所，后来在他们的专利无效申请被驳回后，又增加了一家知名的律师事务所。这些律师看上去都不年轻，法律流程轻车熟路。相比之下我就困难多了，光立案就跑了法院好几趟。请不起律师的人在法院办事的困难就不细说了，如果有兴趣可以到法院立案大厅观摩一下。后来的过程中也慢慢被这些职业律师“培训”的对法律越来越熟悉。一位法律朋友曾讲，法律在不用的时候觉得它很完美，用的时候会发现都是对你不利的。不去评论这句话，但实际过程确实非常复杂，有机会可以整理一下诉讼过程中的风险。比如，诉讼中有个禁止反悔原则，但只约束专利发明人，而对侵权方就不提了，他们可以在无效过程中把你的专利形容的与现有技术一样，没有创造性，而后又在诉讼中把你的专利说成多么与众不同，从而逃避侵权责任。
    2，分工
    他们的律师团真可谓分工明细。美国律师制定总的方针政策，中国律师有的管法律流程，比如管辖异议、无效什么的；有负责跟我在各城市周旋过程的；有分析我方专利的；有调查我方背景，从各方面施加压力的；有搜集证据、做材料公证的；有其公司的技术人员分析其涉案产品的，甚至还有开庭时从公司拉来的亲友团。
    3，拖延
    拖延体现在整个过程中。一开始我先找其中国公司交涉，几个星期没人出来和我谈，辗转找到其美国总部，几个月的交涉没有任何进展。下面是一些回复，一些字符以??代替
    "I received your request a little over a week ago and I have requested a translation of the first claim. As you may know, Thursday this week is a major U.S. holiday. Even so, it frequently takes me several weeks to review a patent matter and because this is a Chinese patent, I will likely need additional time."
    "I was trying to get claim 1 translated using a ?? employee, but decided to turn to a professional for a translation of the entire patent. The translator is estimating 10 days to prepare the translation for us. I will need at least a week afterward to study the patent and discuss it with a developer that knows our ?? software tool. "
    "I received the translation last week and I'm scheduling a time to meet with an engineer familiar with our ?? software tool. The engineer I most need to talk to is traveling this week, but I hope to schedule a time to talk to him by phone. Unfortunately, I don't know all the features, and their dates of first use, of all ?? tools and must rely on engineers in the specific product areas for assistance. We haven't forgotten or ignored this matter. "
    "Tomorrow begins a holiday period for us. "..."I shall be at work, except for the actual holidays, but I'll have difficulty getting assistance on technical and business issues over the next two weeks."
    "On the legal side, I can not provide you an opinion whether or not we infringe your Chinese patent. I am a U.S. patent attorney and my familiarity with Chinese patent law is weak. In the U.S., determining infringement requires us to first determine the claim scope by careful study of the patent and its entire file history and all the cited prior art, all in the context of hundreds of published court opinions. Then, the properly construed claims must be compared against an accused product and where exact equivalence isn't found, possible equivalents must be evaluated. Because your patent was granted in China, the file history and prior art is in Chinese and I am unable to review it. In addition, I don't know the weight China gives to file histories in construing claims--the law on such matters varies widely around the world. "
    "Yesterday was the first day back to work for many in the U.S. and U.K. after the ?? holidays. I will reconnect with the engineer and manager I need to work with on this case and get back to you. "
    无奈之下只能启动诉讼程序，他们也随之行动：
    "Your email to ?? has been forwarded to me for response.  Please note that Mr. ?? is no longer an employee of ??.  He has taken a position with another company.  I am now responsible for this case.  I have hired local counsel, ?? to represent us in this matter. "
    接下来，他们首先使用的拖延方法就是管辖异议，之前提过，由于我方取证困难，在几个月后案子被移往上海。可谁知到上海后他们又提管辖异议，当然没有道理被法院驳回，他们竟然对此上诉，最后终审裁定在上海审理。专利无效的手段他们自然也不会放弃，经过前文描述的过程，几个月后最终在北京国家知识产权局裁定专利有效，权利要求保护范围没有变化。对方的这些手段不仅拖延了大量时间，还在经济上对我增加了不小的负担，每次开庭的机票、住宿不知道花了多少钱。但总觉得，之前那么多年的技术钻研不能白费了，多少个通宵达旦自己一个人对着电脑面屏思过，应该有个说法。
    他们的拖延方法真是层出不穷，后来开始不承认他们有任何对涉案产品的制造、使用、销售或许诺销售，要我拿证据证明。虽然给我带来麻烦，但还是证明了。
    4、强硬
    这也是对方始终的态度。起诉前我就通知对方再不答复就只能起诉，他们就说起诉费用很贵的，你再想想。起诉后又说，你要是不撤诉我们可要无效掉你的专利。专利裁定有效后又说，我们没有侵权，你要是撤诉我们可以把你的诉讼费用给你。
    整个案情涉及专业技术，常言道众口铄金，谎话重复千遍也可能成真。想想自己如果面对一个陌生话题，有10个衣着体面口若悬河的人这样说，有1个常年埋头研究的读书人那样说，我该怎样判断呢？这漫长过程的最后一个不确定因素，可能才是最大的风险，而这又不是自己可以决定的。