Research On The Cognizance Of The Applicable Elements Of Punitive Damages For Trademark Infringement

As one of the concrete manifestations of strengthening the protection of trademark rights,punitive damages for trademark infringement is consistent with the development goal of building a powerful intellectual property country in China.China introduced punitive damages in the revision of the trademark law in 2013,and revised and improved it again in 2019.It actively explored its application in both theoretical and practical dimensions,and showed a trend of continuous improvement and development.However,the application of punitive damages for trademark infringement in judicial practice is still unsatisfactory,which is a certain gap with the development goal of strong protection of intellectual property rights in China.Therefore,starting from the cases of the application of punitive damages for trademark infringement in judicial practice,this paper makes an in-depth study on the application of punitive damages for trademark infringement,in order to be helpful to solve this problem.This paper first reviews the development,nature and function of punitive damages for trademark infringement in China,combs the applicable elements of "malicious" and "serious circumstances" in the subjective and objective elements according to the legislative provisions,and analyzes the relationship between the "compensation base" and "compensation multiple" of calculating punitive damages and the applicability of punitive damages.Secondly,starting from the recognition of the applicable elements by the courts in the trial practice,the classification of trademark infringement cases that clearly apply punitive damages in recent years is investigated,and the main existing problems are analyzed,such as the unclear application steps,the nonstandard reasoning,the vague elements of "malicious" and "serious circumstances",the difficulty in determining the "compensation base" and the strong arbitrariness of "compensation multiple".Finally,according to the combing results,it is believed that on the basis of clarifying the applicable steps of punitive damages for trademark infringement,it is necessary to strengthen the reasoning and demonstration of the identification of various elements.That is,in the identification of the applicable elements,the elements such as "malicious" and "serious circumstances" need to be studied in detail from the two dimensions of connotation and presumption;In the calculation of punitive damages,some personal suggestions are put forward,such as improving the delimitation of the scope of the "compensation base" of punitive damages,including legal compensation and discretionary compensation into the calculation benchmark,selecting "compensation multiple" should refer to relevant factors under the principle of equal punishment,and improving the evidence rules to reduce the burden of proof of obligees.