Punitive damages for intellectual property rights will harm fair transactions in the market economy. Some people believe that in economic activities, everyone is an equal commercial subject, and there is no relationship between punishment and being punished. So what is the significance of the patent punitive damages system? In order to help everyone better understand the relevant legal knowledge, we have compiled the relevant content. Let’s take a look at it together.

1. The significance of the patent punitive damages system. The introduction of a punitive damages system will significantly increase the cost of violating the law and resolutely punish infringements of intellectual property rights in accordance with the law. This is an important measure launched to create a better business environment as my country's economy enters a new era of high-quality development, implements an innovation-driven development strategy, expands opening up to the outside world, promotes economic transformation and upgrading, and supply-side structural reform. . Accordingly, my country's current trademark law, the patent law being revised, and other intellectual property fields have all introduced or will introduce a punitive compensation system. The introduction of a punitive compensation system for intellectual property rights will significantly increase the cost of violating the law, aiming to deter and curb malicious intellectual property infringement crimes, better safeguard the interests of rights holders, enhance the consciousness of the whole society to respect other people's intellectual property rights, and improve the level of intellectual property protection in our country. . However, the author has noticed that the punitive damages system for intellectual property rights is a new thing. The public and even many parties to intellectual property disputes still have various misunderstandings about the concept, connotation and judgment expectations of this system. Punitive damages and compensatory damages are often confused. Compensation, mental damage compensation, aggravated compensation, etc. are confused, and punitive damages are even considered to violate the principle of fair trade in the market economy, misinterpreting the original intention of introducing this system. To this end, the author believes that it is necessary to clarify some biased understandings that exist in practice. First, punitive damages for intellectual property rights will harm fair transactions in the market economy. Some people believe that in economic activities, everyone is an equal commercial subject, and there is no relationship between punishment and being punished. If the party that masters the technology or patent obtains compensation that is much higher than the actual damage suffered, obtaining this "windfall" is contrary to the principle of fair trade in the market economy. my country's current intellectual property compensation is mainly compensatory compensation, and the amount is determined based on the actual losses of the right holder, profits from infringement, licensing royalties, etc. If evidence cannot be provided to prove the aforementioned calculation basis, the court shall determine the amount of compensation at its discretion according to law. In practice, most patent infringement cases have to adopt statutory compensation standards because it is difficult to prove actual losses, infringement gains, and license royalties. However, because statutory compensation amounts are generally low, the compensation received by the right holder is often difficult to truly make up for his or her losses. actual loss. The introduction of the punitive compensation system is precisely to take into account the high cost of patent rights protection and to correct the inequality that exists in real economic activities. Through the punitive compensation system, sufficient compensation is provided to the patentee, and at the same time, the infringer is punished more severely, thereby restoring the reciprocal value relationship between the infringer and the patentee and effectively maintaining a fair and just market economic order. In this way, legally authorized patent holders will not suffer losses due to infringers' market share encroachment, and will be more active in promoting patented technologies in the market in accordance with authorization. Patent holders will also enthusiastically invest in patent research and development, forming a patent research and development and The positive interaction of market promotion will completely break out of the previous vicious cycle of lack of market incentives for patent R&D investment and lack of promotion motivation in the patent licensing market, and effectively promote the healthy and orderly development of the economy. The second is punitive damages for intellectual property rights, which are compensation for mental damages. Some people believe that punitive damages are much higher than compensatory damages in order to provide the patentee with spiritual comfort through adequate economic compensation. The exercise of punitive damages generally requires bad faith infringement, which often causes certain mental damage to the patentee. However, punitive damages are not premised on the actual mental damage suffered by the victim. Compensation for mental damages is an independent cause of compensation and can be calculated alongside material losses as actual losses. Compensatory compensation is calculated based on this actual loss. Punitive damages are attached to compensatory damages. On the basis of compensatory damages, a certain amount or proportion of punitive damages is added, which is punitive damages. Even if no mental damage occurs, as long as the infringer has obvious subjective malice and is morally attributable, he may be liable for punitive damages. Moreover, because mental damage cannot be calculated in terms of monetary value and specific damage is difficult to prove, current legal practice does not include mental damage compensation within the scope of intellectual property damage compensation. The third is that punitive damages for intellectual property rights are aggravated damages.

For example, in the "Wanglaoji" trademark dispute case, Jiaduobao Group was ordered to compensate GPHL for related economic losses and reasonable rights protection costs worth hundreds of millions of yuan. This huge compensation reflects the deterrent power of punitive damages for intellectual property rights. In fact, the huge compensation for the trademark infringement dispute between GPHL and Jiaduobao was determined by the court based on the calculation of Jiaduobao’s infringement benefits. The court believed that Jiaduobao's infringement was serious in nature and its malicious intent was obvious. It refused to provide data on the infringement benefits and account information without justifiable reasons. As a result, the infringement benefits could not be ascertained, which constituted an obstacle to the production of evidence. Therefore, it accepted Jiaduobao's infringement report submitted by Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group. Based on the preliminary evidence of benefit, a judgment of increased compensation was made. This type of aggravated damages is different from punitive damages. Aggravated damages still belong to the category of compensatory damages, which aim to compensate for the losses suffered by the infringed party. The function of punitive damages is not to compensate for the infringer's losses, but to punish and sanction the infringer's serious wrongdoing. Punitive damages are cases in which compensatory damages are insufficient to deter the infringer's malicious infringement behavior, or are insufficient to show that the law fully negates such behavior. In accordance with the clear provisions of the law and the court's judgment, punitive damages are awarded to the infringer with malicious intent. The way to bear tort liability if the amount of compensation exceeds the actual loss of the infringed party is an additional form of civil liability. As a result, punitive damages make the infringer's illegal costs much higher than the illegal profits, thereby effectively curbing and combating intellectual property infringement. To sum up, punitive damages will intensify the crackdown on malicious infringement of intellectual property rights, causing infringers to pay a heavy price. The implementation of this system will effectively alleviate the difficulties of proving intellectual property rights, high costs, low compensation, and poor results, strengthen enterprises' confidence in intellectual property protection, greatly enhance my country's innovation environment, and create a good business environment.

II. Establishment of the punitive damages system in environmental torts: (1) Clarify the application conditions of the punitive damages system 1. Subjective intentionality or gross negligence 2. The infringement is illegal 3. Infringement The behavior must cause harm. 4. There is a causal relationship between the harm and the infringement. (2) Clarify the calculation principle of the amount of punitive damages. Since the punitive damages system is a new thing in the field of environmental torts in my country, in order to balance the relationship between the perpetrators and the victims, To achieve social justice, when calculating the amount of punitive damages, the subjective attitude, economic strength, profit situation of the offender, whether the offender is a first or repeat offender, the damage results to the interests of the victim and the environment, and the socio-economic development should be taken into consideration when calculating the amount of punitive damages. and other factors. (3) Clarify the defense grounds for punitive damages In order to reflect the spirit of legal justice, my country's tort law stipulates defense grounds for tort liability, including intentionality by the victim, infringement by a third party, emergency avoidance, force majeure, etc. Due to the particularity of the punitive damages system and the complexity of environmental torts, it is particularly important to clarify the defense grounds for environmental tort liability when applying the punitive damages system in environmental torts. (4) Establishing a punitive compensation fund for environmental torts Environmental torts are different from general torts. The damage caused by environmental torts often has the characteristics of wide scope, large number of victims, serious consequences, and long incubation period of harmfulness. Therefore, in environmental torts, there are often There will be some victims who file environmental lawsuits, while some victims who are still in the latent stage fail to file lawsuits. If only the former is compensated but not the latter, it goes against the spirit of legal fairness. In order to eliminate this unfair phenomenon, the author believes that a punitive compensation fund should be established in environmental infringements.

3. Punitive damages system for infringement Punitive damages, also known as exemplary damages, are a type of monetary compensation in which the offender pays the victim more than the actual amount of damage. It is a compensation system that integrates functions such as compensation, punishment, and containment. The conditions for applying punitive damages are: first, the infringer has subjective intention, that is, knowing that the product is defective but still produces or sells it; second, there must be fact of damage, which is not a general fact of damage, but should cause serious damage. Facts, that is, causing death or serious damage to health of others; third, there must be a causal relationship, that is, the death of the infringed person or serious damage to health was caused by defective products produced or sold by the infringer. This article also stipulates the scope of application of punitive damages, which is applicable to the extent that the infringed party dies or suffers serious damage to his health. Punitive damages are not applicable to other damages, such as property damage to the infringed party.

In order to prevent the abuse of punitive damages and prevent the infringed party from demanding an unusually high amount of compensation, this article stipulates that the infringed party has the right to request corresponding punitive damages. Correspondence here mainly means that the amount of punitive damages requested by the infringed party should be commensurate with the bad faith of the infringer, the damage caused by the infringer, and the deterrent to the infringer. The specific amount of compensation shall be determined by the people's court on a case-by-case basis. determination. The above is the relevant content introduced to you about the significance of the patent punitive damages system. Intellectual property punitive damages will harm fair transactions in the market economy. Some people believe that in economic activities, everyone is an equal commercial subject, and there is no relationship between punishment and being punished. If you have any questions, you can consult a lawyer.