의약용도발명의 효율적 보호방안에 관한 연구

A Study on Method for Effective Protection of Pharmaceutical Use Invention

This article relates to study on effective protection of pharmaceutical use invention. According to the Korean Patent Law, the categories of invention can be divided into 3, that is product invention, process invention and process invention for manufacturing certain product. Meanwhile, if one have found a new use of material and suggest the condition how to express the new effect as to the new use, he can receive patent right as to new use of the material even though the material itself is publicly known. Use invention is very important category especially for protection of biotechnology and concern over pharmaceutical use invention has been escalating with rapid progress of life sciences. Generally, use invention can be described in the form of product or process invention. However, under the present patent practice of Korean Intellectual Property Office, pharmaceutical use invention should be described in the form of product invention, because medical procedure such as treatment method of human being can not be patented for the reason that requirement of industrial applicability is not met, even though it satisfies the requirements of novelty, inventive step and so on. Under these circumstances, pharmaceutical use invention can not be protected sufficiently. Through this article, the requirements for patent registration and the scope of protection of pharmaceutical use invention are studied for balanced and effective protection of that.