| 摘要: | 全球化經濟之發展，許多企業經常性跨越國境進行的商業行為，已經皆為常見之商業模式，交易內容從有體化的商品買賣交易到無體化的智慧財產權授權交易，以因應生產成本與效率全球化的趨勢考量，尤其現今智慧財產權更是所有企業重要資產，主要以專利、商標、著作、營業秘密與積體電路設計為主，企業間交互授權的機會尤其常見與頻繁。
近年來，英國退出歐盟、中美貿易戰爭、新型冠狀病毒疫情、美國股市4次熔斷、油價期貨史無前例跌到負值，全世界的企業都關注這些重大事件的潛在影響與風險，深怕全球各類資產持續崩跌引發世界走入經濟衰退，需求面急遽下降造成供給面中斷生產，大量企業聲請破產。而當智慧財產權授權雙方當事人簽訂智慧財產權授權契約也將面臨諸多風險，其中之一為任一方當事人聲請破產會直接影響另一方的權利義務。隨著我們邁向西元2020年，除了考量要避開風險，而且還需要從中獲取戰略優勢。國內外企業都在預防跨越國界的風險，以防範風險並利用不斷變化的國際情勢改變戰略，因此，在進行跨國智慧財產權交易或授權時，面對破產風險時，瞭解各國破產法更顯得重要，尤其是全球中擁有智慧財產權數量最多的美國，因此美國聯邦破產法典對於智慧財產權授權更顯重要。
當跨國企業集團面臨財務危機經營不善的狀況產生，債務人自願性破產或是透過債權人向法院提出的非自願性破產，並且該破產事件可能發生數個國家之間時，該跨國破產事件不只其相關利害關係人眾多，跨國法律關係也相對複雜，跨國企業集團之破產可能有各種不同型態，因此應如何妥適協調各國之破產法制，實為費解之問題。因此如何確保債務人能夠在相關國家所進行之破產程序能夠受到公平對待與協助，以及跨國之破產法制如何取得協調，都是極為重要的課題。
本研究中將先透過智慧財產權概述來探討其授權契約與破產法的相關議題，針對美國聯邦破產法典對於智慧財產權進行中雙務授權面臨破產程序時的處置方式進行探討與研究，並透過美國法院的近期著名判例案件的分析，探討我國於民國105年修正的「破產法（更名為債務清理法）」草案目前對於智慧財產權授權於破產程序上的現行狀態與爭議，主要亦以智慧財產權相關授權為主，進而提供企業面臨破產時風險之參考與因應措施以及我國債務清理法草案的參考與建議。;With the development of the economic globalization, multinational business activities have become a common business pattern. In response to the globalization, most contents of transaction were turned from physical products to intangible products. Intellectual property (IP) belongs to one of the intangible products. IP, containing patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret as well as integrated circuit design, now becomes the most important and valued asset to corporations. Cross-licensing between corporations is especially common.
Recently, some major events like Brexit, the US-China trade war, COVID-19, the “circuit breaker” in the US stocks as well as the negative oil price, have posted potential effects on the global economy. Consequently, corporations around the world fear that those effects would make various kinds of assets fall in value, causing the worldwide economic downturn. Moreover, the decline of demand would cut down supply. In the end, a large number of corporations start to declare bankruptcy. In this situation, when licensing IP, both parties might face enormous and potential risks in that one party’s declaring bankruptcy would directly affect the other party’s rights and obligations. Facing it, we not only should try to avoid risks, but also need to win the strategic advantages in such game. In this day, under the changeable international situation, corporations urge to prevent the cross-border risks and try to adjust their strategies at any time. As a consequence, when there are risks existing in the IP transaction or licensing, it is necessary and extremely important to be intimated with the bankruptcy laws in every country, especially “The U.S. Bankruptcy Code.”
When a multinational corporation, as a debtor, spontaneously or let the creditor declare bankruptcy to the court due to the poor management of that corporation, Transnational bankruptcy would take place. In such case, because of a lot of stakeholders involved in, the complicated legal relationship and other unpredictable situations, how to reach coordination between nations and ensure creditors are treated fairly during the bankruptcy proceedings matter a lot.
In this thesis, I plan to discuss the issue concerning licensing agreement as well as bankruptcy law through the introduction to IP, focusing on the treatment to bankruptcy proceedings of licensing IP according to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Furthermore, I am going to discuss the current status and critics toward Taiwan’s bankruptcy proceedings regulated by Taiwan Bankruptcy Law, the draft which was amended as “Taiwan’s 2016 Draft of Debts Clearance Act”. Ultimately, mainly based on IP licensing, I will provide the corporations that face bankruptcy some suggestions about the measures for avoiding and dealing with the risks they might meet. |
