Research On Legislation Improving The Indemnification Of Intellectual Property Torts In Macau

The Macao Special Administrative Region, being a member of the World Trade Organization, has the responsibility to carry out its obligations. These include not only the protection of the rights and interests of intellectual property obligee, but the more important one is to reinforce the recognition of Macao residents regarding the protection of intellectual property rights, which will attract more foreign investments as a result. In fact, the government has made great effort in recent years to strike at intellectual property torts by means of criminal prosecutions and administrative means which are effective ways to lessen those torts. However, under the current laws of intellectual property rights, there is no specific article concerning the indemnification system of intellectual property torts, and it only relies on civil laws as a supplement to the current intellectual property laws. But whether this is comprehensive, it is worthy to carry out further exploration and investigation. According to this thesis, an effective indemnification system of injury conducted by intellectual property torts can safeguard the substantive interests of the obligee. Compared with criminal prosecutions and administrative means, the civil indemnification system becomes relatively significant to the obligee.Previous judicial cases have demonstrated that the interests of intellectual property obligee cannot be completely assured by solely employing criminal prosecutions and administrative means. Thus there are two areas of concern: firstly, although criminal prosecutions or administrative means have already been carried out, the infringement has occurred and the interests of the obligee has been violated. Without setting definite areas of indemnification due to the infringement, the interests of the obligee cannot be assured and on the other hand, it can not prevent further torts. Secondly, in evaluating the indemnification of the torts, there is no standard or scope which can cause difficulty in judicial judgment, especially in the evaluation of the intangible injury or the injury which cannot be enumerated, and in the evaluation of the evidence that causes injury. These are the problems that require judges to take into account when deciding the monetary amount of compensation.Regarding to the current laws of intellectual property rights in Macao, the aim of this thesis is to study the indemnification system related to the violation of interests of intellectual property obligee. This thesis mainly contains the following: elements lead to indemnification of intellectual property torts, principles and standards of indemnification system and evaluation of injury, etc. Only with the establishment of an effective indemnification system of intellectual property torts, along with other legal methods, the interests of obligee can be well protected. Thus, this thesis will be sent to the legislative council, if necessary, as a recommendation for legislative purposes regarding the indemnification regime of intellectual property rights.