Standardization Of Application Of Law On Punitive Damages For Intellectual Property Rights

The popularization of the internet and the diversification of information dissemination have facilitated the spread of intellectual property rights,but the infringement of intellectual property rights has become more rampant.At the same time,due to the high concealment and complexity of intellectual property rights infringement,some intellectual property rights infringement cases still have high costs for the right holders to defend their rights,and it is difficult to provide evidence,the amount of compensation is too low to make up for the losses suffered by the intellectual property owners.The academic circle and the judicial practice circle advocate that we should establish the intellectual property punitive damages system to solve the problems of insufficient protection of intellectual property.The introduction of punitive damages in the Civil Code and other intellectual property sector laws is a sign that our Intellectual Property Law law has established a system of punitive damages for intellectual property,judging from the application of punitive damages in the field of trademark,there are a large number of infringement cases involving punitive damages,but there are few cases in which the decision supports the application of punitive damages.Therefore,the application of law on punitive damages for intellectual property does not achieve the goal of changing the low amount of compensation and preventing infringement.At present,there are some problems in the application of the law of punitive damages of intellectual property in our country.Secondly,the calculation base of punitive damages is difficult to determine,many intellectual property rights infringement cases meet the requirements of punitive damages,but can not be applied because of the difficult to determine the compensation base.In addition,the excessive application of legal compensation also leads to the low application rate of punitive damages.Finally,the commercial cases of human rights defense,a serious squeeze on the already tight judicial resources,so that judges to apply punitive damages more carefully.The reasons for the above problems include theoretical and legislative provisions.In theory,the nature and function of punitive damages for intellectual property rights are controversial,and it should be made clear that the functions of punitive damages for intellectual property rights include the basic functions of compensating the losses of the obligee and the core functions of punishing the infringer,the objective function of deterring potential actors and the value function of motivating right holders to actively safeguard their rights.In addition,the theory and practice of legal compensation has not formed a consensus on whether the punitive nature of judicial practice is an important reason for excessive reliance on legal compensation.In the aspect of legislation,first of all,the connotation of the subjective element “Intention”is not clear,and the objective element “Serious circumstances” is not clear.Secondly,the amount of punitive damages calculation rules are inadequate,reflected in the base is difficult to determine,the number of times to determine the lack of objective criteria.In view of the above-mentioned problems and the causes,in the judicial norms and legislation to improve the recommendations.In the judicial aspect,we can adjust the proof rules of punitive damages to guide the litigants to give evidence actively and put forward the measures to regulate the commercial litigation.Legislation should be clear about the intellectual property punitive damages subjective elements of “Intent” and the scope of the identification standard,set “Serious circumstances” of the identification standard ideas,the legal compensation and the agreed compensation should be taken as the calculating base of the punitive damages,so as to enhance the objectivity of the determination of the multiple.