Research On The Specific Consideration Factors Of The Elements Of Punitive Compensation For Patent Infringement

The Civil Code revised in 2020 introduced the provisions of punitive damages for intellectual property infringement,and the amended Patent Law also introduces the system of punitive damages for patent infringement.In 2021,the Supreme Court issued punitive damages for infringement of intellectual property rights.According to the judicial interpretation,the system of punitive damages for patent infringement has been initially completed.However,in a detailed examination,how to apply the two constituent elements of"willful infringement" and "serious circumstances" in the case of patent infringement still needs to be discussed in depth.Based on the current situation of China’s laws and regulations and previous judicial practice,this paper analyzes the special situation of patent infringement,combines with the development experience of the punitive damages system of patent infringement in the United States,and puts forward some suggestions for improving the system in combination with China’s national conditions.This paper mainly includes the following four parts:The first part summarizes the current situation of legislation,judicial interpretation and judicial documents,focusing on the comparative analysis of the "willful" and "serious" types of punitive damages in the Supreme Court,Tianjin high court and Beijing high court,so as to clarify the relevant definitions in the latest judicial interpretation.Secondly,it searches and analyzes the factors of previous patent infringement cases involving the determination of willful infringement,and makes a typical case analysis of the determination of "willful infringement" and "serious circumstances" in judicial practice.The second part analyzes the problems that may exist when the constitutive requirements of punitive damages are applied to patent infringement.Due to the uncertainty of patent infringement prediction,including the uncertainty of the interpretation of claims,the division of technical features,the determination of equivalent infringement,the defense of prior art/design,the possibility of invalidity of the patent itself,and the existence of special patents such as standard essential patents and non business entity patents.In the patent infringement cases,the determination of "willful" and "serious circumstances" of the accused infringer are both special,so it is necessary to comprehensively consider the relevant factors when applying the relevant provisions of the latest judicial interpretation.In the third part,through the analysis of the changes in the standard of punitive damages for patent infringement in the United States,the current provisions of the law and related cases,we carefully consider its reference significance to China,including the reasons for the changes in the standard,the specific factors summarized in the judicial judgment and the way of comprehensive consideration of cases.The fourth part,considering the complexity and uncertainty of patent infringement identification,carefully draw on the relevant American system,and put forward suggestions,including the connotation of "willful infringement";in the judicial application of the two elements of and "serious circumstances",special consideration factors in the patent field are considered comprehensively;in the process of the determination of punitive damages for patent infringement,we should conduct more full and careful trial,and give the accused party sufficient defense space.