Study On The Punitive Damages System Of Product Infringement

Punitive damages is different from compensatory compensation, which refers thataccording to the plaintiff’s claim, the court judges the infringer make an extra compensationwhich is beyond the actual damage, in order to punish the infringer’s wrongdoing and curbsimilar actions happened in future. The tort liability law of China, expressly provides productsmay be applied to infringement punitive damages system in legal form for the first time, butits constituents and the determination of the compensation amount is not clear. This paper willtake article47of tort liability law for research object, by historical and comparative analysismethod, to elaborate the rationality and the necessity of applying punitive damages toproducts field, and discuss meticulously its constituents and reference factors to make sure thespecific amount. The paper aims to provide help for judicial practice in concrete application.In addition to the introduction and conclusion, this paper includes four parts.The first part takes the overview on punitive compensation system. The author expoundsthe historical development and connotation of punitive damages by the comparative andhistorical analysis method. And on this basis, this part makes a comparison with the relatedconcepts such as compensatory compensation, mental damage compensation and fine, andthen concludes that the punitive damages has the quality of private law of punishment.The second part rationally analyzes of punitive damages in product infringement. Theauthor demonstrates the rationality of punitive damages in products field mainly from thetheoretic basis and the realistic foundation. Compensatory compensation is difficult to makeup all damages suffered by the victim, it is even worse in the field of product infringement.The economic status of producers, sellers and consumers (users) are not equal in today’ssociety; In the accession to the WTO, quality problems of product in our country appearconstantly, which is detrimental to improve international competitive of our country’sproducts, and victims in our country can’t get the corresponding compensations who aredamaged by foreign products unqualified. The special functions of punitive compensation canjust solve the above problems, and then provide a powerful argumentation for the use ofpunitive damages in product infringement.The third part is about the components of punitive damages in product infringement. Notall infringement punitive damages applies to the field of product, it has strict constituents. Theauthor decomposes and integrates article47of tort liability law, and that only when the producer or seller knows the defects but still produce and sale, to cause serious damages, theinfringed has the right to request the corresponding punitive damages. And based on theanalysis, this part demonstrates concurrence of “the tort liability law” with the “food safety”and “consumer rights and interests protects law”. While accord with both constitutiverequirements, the author thinks that the tort liability law is applicable.The fourth part discusses how to determine the amount of punitive damages in productinfringement. On the basis of the analysis of judicial practice and theory in other countries orregions, and combined with China’s scholars theory, the author concludes the referencefactors in determining of the amount, that include: The degree of infringer’s subjectivevicious and nature of the illegal behavior; The profits infringers get and their property status;the other responsibilities the infringers may be taking; the damages victims suffered, etc.