Study On The Application Of Punitive Damages Rule In "Knowingly Buying Fakes"

Consumers are important participants in market transactions,and whether the legitimate rights and interests of consumers can be protected or not is directly related to the normal operation of market order and trading environment,based on the protection of consumers,China has established the punitive damages rule,but a large number of “knowingly buying counterfeits”claims also came.The issue of whether the punitive damages rule applies to“knowingly buying a fake” has been discussed for more than 20 years since Wang Hai’s case,but still has not been properly resolved,and the views of the theoretical and practical circles on this issue have been repeatedly and are still widely divergent.As China’s current legal provisions do not specify whether the punitive damages rule applies to “knowingly buying a fake”,there are differences in judicial practice on this issue,specifically in the areas of narrow application,inconsistent identification,inconsistent identification of “fraud”,inconsistent identification of “actual damage”,inconsistent identification of the amount of compensation,and deficient standards of non-compliance with food safety.These six problems have seriously affected the application of the law and the public’s expectations.The reasons for this are the changes in the legislative background,the ambiguity of the relevant rules,the neglect of the special nature of punitive damages,and the one-sided trade-offs between legal interests.In view of the above problems,this paper applies the punitive compensation to the problem of“knowingly buying counterfeit goods”in the light of the principles of protecting the rights and interests of consumers,good faith,giving consideration to both efficiency and fairness,and the guiding principles of balancing the relief of public power and the relief of private rights,by applying a categorical approach,this paper puts forward suggestions from six aspects:expanding and classifying the applicable fields,perfecting the relevant identification,perfecting the identification standard of “Fraud”,making clear that “actual damage”is not the prerequisite for application,classifying the amount of compensation,and perfecting the standards that do not meet the requirements of food safety,in order to improve a more complete and effective protection of consumer rights and interests of the law.