Research On Liability For Compensation In Mass Litigation Cases Of Trademark Infringement

Batch trademark infringement lawsuits refer to multiple trademark infringement lawsuits filed by the same trademark owner in different courts against the terminal seller for the same cause.In the current judicial practice,it is different from ordinary trademark infringement cases in that,through entrusting professional agencies,most of the infringement facts are fixed by notarization and evidence collection,and terminal sellers of infringing products are selected as defendants in a specific region or nationwide.File infringement civil lawsuits in a short period of time by template and in batches.With the increasing number of trademark infringement cases in my country’s courts in recent years,mass litigation for rights protection is considered to be a commercial activity.There are many discussions on this in the legal circle,but they are gradually dying.The most direct impact of mass litigation on the judiciary is that it increases trial pressure and makes front-line judges resist,but it is undeniable that it is still a way of judicial relief for rights holders to safeguard their rights,and it is also justified and reasonable.Since the case of batch cases is relatively simple,and most of the defendants are terminal sellers,there are many differences in compensation liability compared with general trademark infringement cases where the defendant is a manufacturer or wholesaler.When hearing batch cases,the court should pay attention to how to reasonably apply the evidence system and determine the amount of compensation.At the same time,it should avoid a negative attitude,give full play to the subjective initiative of the judiciary,and properly guide it with appropriate judicial strategies to avoid the phenomenon of market failure.Batch trademark infringement litigation is a means for trademark owners to actively seek judicial relief when they are infringed,with the purpose of obtaining compensation for certain economic losses while preventing market infringement.The author attempts to collect relevant trademark infringement disputes in five provinces and cities(Beijing,Shanghai,Guangdong,Zhejiang and Jiangxi)in the past three years,and selects sample cases for empirical analysis according to the characteristics of batch cases.It can be seen that under the background of the implementation of the principle of filling in relief,there are generally phenomena such as low compensation amounts and generalized application of statutory compensation in batch trademark infringement lawsuits during the litigation process.Combined with empirical and relevant theoretical analysis,the main reasons for this phenomenon are that the front-line trial judges have a relatively passive attitude towards the litigation model of batch cases,the requirements for the parties’ proof standards do not meet the actual situation,resulting in the lack of compensation basis and the failure to apply statutory compensation.The formation of a unified referee thinking and so on.The current rights protection model of batch litigation has not produced obvious negative consequences in the development of the market,and it is not necessary to completely curb such litigation behaviors.Therefore,there is no need to establish a brand-new damage compensation system for batch litigation of trademark infringement in legislation.Instead,it is necessary to distinguish the difference in liability for damages between batch cases and general trademark infringement cases,take a positive attitude,and reasonably use the current relevant compensation system.In terms of determining the liability for compensation in batch cases,while increasing the rate of evidence admissibility,the standard of proof of the legal source defense of terminal retailers is correspondingly lowered;in determining the amount of compensation in batch cases,try to improve the determination standard of statutory compensation in judicial application and the apportionment of legal compensation.On the basis of the principle,the reasonable expenses incurred by the rights holder for rights protection are determined;in terms of the improvement of the relevant supporting systems,the introduction of pre-litigation reminder rules for terminal sellers,the transformation of judicial concepts,and the introduction of judgment guidelines for batch cases in the same region.