Research On The Application Of Punitive Damages For Patent Infringement

Punitive damages refer to a system in which when the infringer deliberately commits a tort and causes damage to the right holder,the right holder can obtain additional compensation in addition to the actual damages.Since first introduced in the field of consumer rights protection in 1993,Subsequently,punitive damages were determined in the field of civil torts in many laws.The punitive damages established in the "Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China" in 2013 achieved zero breakthroughs in the legislation of punitive damages in the field of intellectual property rights.The newly revised "Patent Law of the People’s Republic of China"（hereinafter referred to as the "New Patent Law"）on October17,2020 also clarified the punitive liability for patent infringement.On March 3,2021,Supreme People’s Court promulgated the "Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court on the Application of Punitive Damages in the Trial of Civil Cases of Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights"（hereinafter referred to as the "Interpretation"）,provisions are made on the applicable standards of the punitive damages,the determination of the amount of compensation,and judicial application,etc.However,the application of punitive damages in individual cases is very complicated due to the particularity of the patent right.It is necessary to re-understand the punitive damages in the field of patent infringement based on Chinese national conditions,to analyze of the applicable conditions,the scope of application and the amount of punitive damages,to improve the relevant supporting system.So that the punitive damage plays a role in curbing infringements,preventing infringements and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of right holders.The first part of the article is the basic theory of punitive damages.It introduces the disputes on the legal nature of the punitive damages in patent infringement,and puts forward the viewpoint of this article as the legal nature of private law.It also points out that the punitive damages mainly have four functions:punishment,prevention,relief,and incentives.The second part proposes the difficulties in the application of the punitive damages in patent infringement.Randomly selected 100 judgments in the last three years for case analysis and summarized the difficulties in the application of the punitive damages.The third part is a typological analysis of the application of extraterritorial punitive damages,and this part summarized the enlightenment of the experience of extraterritorial application for patent infringement to China.The fourth part is recommendations on the application of punitive damages for patent infringement.Including standardizing the applicable elements of punitive damages,calculating the amount of punitive damages precisely,determining applicable principles and improving related supporting measures.To sum up,the article focuses on the application of the punitive damages in the field of patent infringement,following the main line of "Basic theory-Application difficulties-Comparative research-Applicable recommendations",synthesizes various research methods to discuss the application of patent infringement punitive damages systematically,ensuring that the upcoming punitive damages can protect the interests of right holders and create a good environment for social innovation and development.