【作者】 祝宁波；

【导师】 丁伟；

【作者基本信息】 华东政法学院 ， 国际法学， 2006， 博士

【摘要】 平行进口是知识产品在不同国境间的移动;它是在国际贸易中,当某一知识产权获得两个以上国家的保护时,未经知识产权人或者独占被许可人的同意,第三者所进行的进口并销售该知识产权产品的行为。“平行进口”是国际贸易实务中的一种常见现象。因为其法律效力的不确定性,“平行进口”常被称之为“灰色市场进口”。不过,无论从字面意义上,还是从具体使用上,二者并不完全相同。灰色市场这一术语多用在美国,而欧共体内则多用平行进口这一术语。严格意义上来说,“灰色市场”概念比“平行进口”概念具有更大的包容性,确切地说,平行进口只是灰色市场进口的一种类型。作为商品跨越国境移动的形式,平行进口与走私在许多方面有相似之处。日常生活中常常将以这两种方式进入一国国境的货物通称为“水货”。其实,二者在产生的主要原因、实施的对象、行为的性质、后果和所要承担的法律责任等方面都有很大不同。两者会随着国家立法态度的不同而相互作用或转化,即当平行进口被一国禁止时,商品可能会借助走私的通道进入一国国境;反之,当平行进口被一国法律所允许时,一部分走私产品可能通过合法的通关手续进入一国国境。另外,平行进口与反向假冒也存在很多相似之处,如二者所针对的都是合法的知识产品,都是再销售的行为,行为实施的后果都可能影响消费者的合法权益等。但是,二者也存在着显著区别。对二者的区分将使允许平行进口的国家对平行进口行为的性质和后果产生不同判断。平行进口现象自产生开始已有近百年时间。其中,伴随着知识产权保护范围的扩大,平行进口所涉领域也不断扩展。专利、版权和商标领域最易出现平行进口现象,其他领域,如集成电路布图设计、植物新品种保护等领域也陆续出现了平行进口现象。对这些领域的平行进口采取何种立法态度,取决于相关国家的国内知识产权的保护程度和立法目标。平行进口产生的主要原因是同一知识产品在不同国家市场的价格差。造成这种价格差的原因有很多,产品需求弹性、产品的生产成本、知识产权人的定价策略、国家的关税政策和关税水平等都会对产品的价格产生影响。平行进口商正是为了从这种价格差中赚取利润,才从知识产权人或其授权的人手中购买知识产品。平行进口商的行为有利于打破垄断,促进世界贸易自由化,也给进口国消费者带来了福利。但是,平行进口的行为会损害知识产权人的利益,特别是进口国知识产权被授权人的利益,而且平行进口行为也不总是有利于进口国消费者。自从国际社会开始加强国与国之间相互保护知识产权的合作,平行进口现象就成为一个不能回避的国际性问题。尽管早期涉及平行进口的案件相对较少。但经济全球化促使国际货物贸易和技术货易迅猛增长,因平行进口而引起的争议和诉讼也大量出现。对平行进口问题的理论研究和立法越来越为各国和国际社会所重视。平行进口现象及其产生的问题已经成为知识产权法领域和国际贸易法领域共同面对和亟需解决的法律问题。目前,地域性理论和权利用尽理论依然是判断平行进口是否合法的主要依据。地域性理论的基本内容是知识产权人可以依据不同国家的法律获得不同的知识产权保护,各知识产权之间是相互独立的;知识产权在一国领域的实现和用尽并不意味着知识产权人根据其他国家法律获得的知识产权在该国的实现和用尽。与地域性理论相对的是权利用尽理论。该理论产生的目的在于保证商品在一国地域内自由流通,防止权利滥用从而形成垄断。权利用尽理论的基本内容是经知识产权人或其授权的人许可而产生的知识产品,在第一次投放市场之后,权利人的权利就被认为用尽,权利人丧失对其产品的进一步控制权。在一国境内,地域性理论和权利用尽理论的矛盾与冲突尽管存在,但一国通过立法即可有效调节;如果产品涉及不同国家,则两个理论常常发生激烈冲突。对于二者的选择,将直接关系到平行进口的性质和立法原则。平行进口问题不但涉及知识产权保护问题还涉及国际贸易自由化的问题。因此,对平行进口性质的考察也必须透过国际贸易理论。那些对平行进口持否定或限制观点的国家,通过平行进口政策使贸易自由化的进程受阻,并完全可能成为一些国家限制别国产品进口的合法借口——有相当一部分进口商品可能被挡在关境之外,或者即使入境也会因知识产权纷争,不能大量进入该国国内市场的流通渠道,甚至因遭遇诉讼而蒙受损失。将利益均衡的思想引入平行进口问题的分析,能够更清晰的认识到平行进口的立法同样应体现正义并兼顾各方的利益。利益均衡意味着个体利益与公共利益的平衡,是从深层次探讨平行进口的取舍理由。平行进口问题使世界各国共同面临一个两难选择的境地——它关系到知识产权人和社会公众之间利益的平衡:如果允许“平行进口”,则知识产权人的利益有可能受到损害;如果禁止“平行进口”,那么就容易导致知识产权人的垄断,进而影响国际商品贸易的自由流动,从而影响社会公众利益,降低社会的整体福利。平行进口还会受到竞争规则的影响。因为平行进口行为本身一般不会侵犯知识产权,即使可能对知识产权造成侵害也往往发生在动态或转销过程中,而这就需要竞争法来规制了。竞争法本身的作用就在于规制不规范的市场竞争行为,这样,将竞争法引进平行进口领域,既可以维护有利于本国的平行进口,又可以禁止不利于本国的平行进口。充分发挥竞争法不失原则性下的灵活性,也符合一定时期一国的价值取向。现阶段,国际公约和实践对于平行进口问题涉及较少。除了TRIPs协议对专利仿制药品的平行进口有特殊规定外,在国际层面上基本没有调整平行进口的法律规定。在区域层面上,有关平行进口的立法以欧盟的平行进口理论与实践为典范。欧共体所创设的区域内权利用尽理论,有效地促进了欧盟各成员国间的商品、服务、人员等的自由流通,保障了区域内自由竞争,不但为成员国国内立法提供了参考,也为国际社会其他区域联盟的立法提供了很好的范例。平行进口的立法主要是各国国内法,特别是经济发达或者知识产权保护程度高的国家则更为健全。目前,美国、欧盟、日本等国家都纷纷采取对策应对平行进口商品。尽管目前这一问题在某些国家已经被合法化,甚至形成一套较为完备的制度,但在整个国际社会仍未形成一致的看法,甚至一国法院对这一问题的态度也会前后充满了矛盾和变化。我国对平行进口的理论研究只有十几年的时间。有关平行进口的法律不但立法时间短,效力低,数量不多,调整的范围也很有限。这些现状都与我国平行进口的实践少,平行进口影响评价机制的缺失以及平行进口立法缺乏坚实的理论基础有着直接关系。平行进口目前在我国还不是一个突出问题。但是,随着中国市场经济体制的完善、WTO的加入以及我国经济的蓬勃发展,我国各方面都在赶超世界先进。在国际贸易领域,平行进口将越来越频繁。因此,立法的必要性和紧迫性非常明显。通过系统分析的方法对平行进口的理论和实践问题进行深入、全面的研究后,作者建设性地提出了我国平行进口的立法取向。即现阶段,我国平行进口的立法应以允许为宜;同时,对于现在和将来出现的平行进口的消极影响,规定一定的例外原则,将这些消极影响降低至最低程度。此外,在平行进口的法律体系方面,以现有的法律制度为基础,走先分后总的立法模式。在具体立法方面,遵循国际化原则、有利于我国经济发展原则、分别立法原则、长期规划与短期利益相协调原则,并对知识产权法、竞争法、海关法、对外贸易法、合同法以及消费者权益保护法等方面的立法进一步加以完善。更多还原

【Abstract】 Parallel importation is the flowing of the intellectual products among the different countries. Parallel importation occurs in such condition that an unauthorized importer purchases the goods abroad and imports them for resale in the importing country without the permission of the owner of intellectual property right.Parallel importation is one of the frequent phenomena in the international trade. It is called by“Grey Market”for its legal nature is not confirmed. Actually, they are different not only in definition but also in use.“Grey Market”is usually used by American and“Parallel Importation”is used by European in generally. Moreover, the scope of“Grey Market”is larger than that of“Parallel Importation”, it includes the parallel importation, anti-importation and circuit importation. So we can say the parallel importation is just one of the types of grey market.As far as the goods’transnational flowing is concerned, the parallel importation is similar to smuggle. Sometimes the goods entered into an importing country through these manners are totally called“smuggled goods”. But both of them are different from occurrence reason, the object, the nature of the behavior and the consequence or legal liabilities. They may be transformed each other when the legal attitude of importing country changes. That is to say, the goods will enter into the importing country through the channels of smuggling when the parallel importation is forbidden. In the contrary, the smuggled goods will enter into the importing country through lawful customs procedure when the parallel importation is permitted.The parallel importation is similar to the reverse passing-off sometimes. For example, their goods are both lawful intellectual ones, both belong to the reselling behavior and they may impair the consumers’legal rights and interests. Whether the goods are“genuine goods”or not is the weighing standard of differing both of them. It is very important to distinguish them for the country where parallel importation is lawful.With the scope of intellectual property protection enlarged, the range of parallel importation is extended. The parallel importations of patent, copyright and trademark are the most frequent and fundamental types. Which kinds of legislation attitude depend on different countries’protection degree to the intellectual property right.The major reason of parallel importation is the difference of goods’price within different countries. There is much causation resulting in price difference, such as the producing cost of goods, the intellectual property owners’strategies of making price, countries’custom policies, etc. For earning these profits, the parallel importers purchase the goods from the intellectual property owners and resell them in the importing country. The behaviors of parallel importers are in favor of breaking the monopolization and accelerate the freedom of international trade. But these behaviors tamper the interests of the owner of intellectual property rights and are not always in favor of the consumers.The issue of parallel importation can not be avoided since the protection of intellectual property is strengthened within international society. In history, the disputes of parallel importation are not too much. With the up-rush of international sale of goods and technology on the ground of the economic globalization, the litigations of parallel importation come forth in the gross. People pay more attention to research the theory and legislation of parallel importation.Now, the territorial principle and the exhaustion principle are still considered the main theories which are the standard of whether parallel importation is lawful or not. The principle of territoriality holds that intellectual property right is acquired according to the laws of the country of origin on intellectual property, and has no force in other countries outside the country of origin. If an unauthorized importer bought the goods protected by intellectual property right and sold them to the importing country, the owner of intellectual property right shall prohibit the importation according to the right of importation. The principle of exhaustion is opposite with the principle of territoriality. It is generally accepted in domestic market by many countries all over the world in order to ensure the free circulation of goods protected by intellectual property rights, that is to say, the principle of national exhaustion is generally accepted. But in international market, it is a controversial issue on the adoption of the exhaustion principle. If the exhaustion principle is adopted in international market, parallel import shall be considered to be with the law. It is a controversial issue on the legality of the principle of international exhaustion in the countries throughout the world. So the choice of those principles decides the legitimation of parallel importation.The issue of parallel importation is involved in not only the protection of intellectual property but also the freedom of international trade. So the nature of parallel importation should also research the theory of international trade. Countries which forbid or limited parallel importation always use the theories of parallel importation to hold back the tenor of trade freedom. Some goods are blocked outside the importing countries for the parallel importation, or result in a great deal of intellectual property disputes and incur damages even if the goods came into the importing country.It is useful for the theory of interests’equity to understand the issue of parallel importation because the goal of the legal system of parallel importation also embodies justice and give attention to different interested parties. The theory of interests’equity means the equity of individual interest and public interests is the reason of permitting or forbidding parallel importation. The issue of parallel importation makes countries in a dilemma——the interests of the owner of intellectual property may be incurred damages if permitting parallel importation; The monopolization of the owner of intellectual property may be induced, and influence the freedom of international trade, the public interests and the whole social welfare if parallel importation is forbidden.The competition rules also influence the policy of parallel importation. The behavior of parallel importation itself may not infringe the intellectual property rights. The infringement of intellectual property rights always takes place the process of movement or reselling of goods. So the competition rules have effect in these processes to rule the unfair competition. The competition rules are flexible to regulate the behavior of parallel importation——Whether the legitimating of parallel importation or not depends on whether these behaviors fulfill the requirements of competition law.Up to the present, there is few content of parallel importation in the international conventions and practices. Except there is the special regulations about parallel importation of generic drug in TRIPs Agreement, most international conventions have no related previsions about parallel importation. As far as the regional conventions are concerned, the European Union has very good theories and practices on parallel importation. The principle of regional exhaustion accelerates the freedom circulation of goods, services and persons within European Union and ensures the freedom competition in European Union. The success practices of European Union not only offer the perfect reference for their member states but also are good examples for other regional groups.The legislation of parallel importation mostly roots in national law, especially the developed countries or the countries of high level of intellectual property protection. Till now, the U.S., Japan and the countries of European Union have the related legal systems about parallel importation. Even if some countries consider the parallel importation is lawful, the opinion of parallel importation is not coherent in international society. The attitude of parallel importation even in one country is often changeable during different period.The time of researching on parallel importation in our country is just more than 10 years. The time of legislations about parallel importation is not long and the effectiveness of legislations is not high. In the mean time, the number and the scope of legislation are limited. The status in quo results from the limited practices of parallel importation. Moreover, the lack of the evaluation system about parallel importation results in the difficulties of legislation. With the building of Chinese Market Economics, China entering into the WTO and the fast development of Chinese economy, a great deal of parallel importation will come forth. The making our parallel importation law is the requirements of the necessary and urgency of Chinese economic developments.Through the systemic analysis of the theories and practicing problem, the author thinks it is good for China to permit parallel importation in the present period. At the same time, it is necessary for regulating some restrictions to reduce the negative influence of parallel importation. As far as the Chinese legal system of parallel importation is concerned, the author thinks that we can make perfect the legal system on the ground of Chinese Intellectual Property Laws, Unfair Competition law, Customs Law, Foreign Trade Law and Consumers Interests Protection Law, etc. and make the Chinese Parallel Importation Law eventually. We must follow the international principle, the principle of in favor of Chinese economic development, the principle of separate legislation and the principle of harmony between the lasting goal and short interests.更多还原