Research On The Application Of Punitive Damages For Copyright Infringement In China

The third Amendment to the Copyright Law officially introduced the system of punitive damages into the field of copyright infringement.The provisions are relatively general,and there are many disputes in the application of this system.The academic circles lack systematic research on the application of this system.Therefore,this paper selects the core controversial issues of the subjective and objective application of punitive damages,the determination of the basic figure,and the coordinated application of the pecuniary liability for copyright infringement,researches through empirical research,comparative research and other methods,and provides proposals to make the system better applicable.To study the application of the system,we must first accurately find its orientation,mainly based on its nature and function.This paper starts with the institution of punitive damages for civil infringement,which is the superior concept,and clarifies that punitive damages for copyright infringement is a special tort liability,and its functions include punishment,deterrence,compensation and incentive.Then,this paper investigates the statutory laws and precedents of punitive damages for copyright infringement in Britain,the United States and Germany,and summarizes their enlightenment on the application of this system in China.The“additional damages” stipulated in the British Copyright Law has the nature of punitive damages,and the determination of its applicable method and compensation have been restricted through legal precedents.These restrictions are based on the functional orientation of the British punitive damages institution.The enlightenment for our country is that we should also focus on the orientation of the system when understanding the application of the corresponding system.The Us Copyright Law punishes and curbs intentional infringement by raising the upper limit of statutory damages,making statutory damages punitive.However,due to the excessively broad provisions of the statutory law,there are many precedents of excessive punitive damages or improper application.It is suggested that when perfecting the institution of punitive damages for copyright infringement in China,we should limit the connotation and extension of the applicable elements through legislation or judicial interpretation to avoid the judges’ arbitrary extension of interpretation.At the same time,we should not limit for the sake of restriction,but should focus on the original intention of legislation and the positioning of the system to make reasonable restrictions.Germany does not explicitly stipulate punitive compensation institution in the field of copyright infringement,but it makes copyright owners get full compensation through detailed rules of evidence and calculation rules of compensation.It can be seen that whether the mode of copyright infringement relief plays an effective role depends on whether the full amount of compensation can be realized for copyright owners,rather than whether to establish a punitive compensation institution.This inspires that when solving the application of punitive damages institution,our country should take the realization of full compensation to copyright owners as a consideration standard.Finally,this paper analyzes the problems raised in the introduction,and tries to provides proposals to make the system of China better applicable.Firstly,when determining the subjective aspect of punitive damages,intention should be distinguished from malicious,and the determination of intention should include indirect intention.Secondly,when determining the objective aspects of punitive damages,it is necessary to sort out the thinking of aggravated circumstances.The determination should not involve subjective conditions,and the relevant objective factors should be considered from the perspective of conducive to the function of the system.Thirdly,when determining the basic figure of punitive damages,we should take full protection of the application of punitive damages as the primary goal.Take statutory damages as the basic figure of it,and improve the current applicable rules of compensatory damages to balance the disadvantages brought by this rule.Since the relationship between discretionary compensation and statutory damages is controversial,in order to avoid causing new troubles to judicial application,it is not suggested to add discretionary compensation as the new basic figure of punitive compensation after statutory damages is included in.Fourthly,the complementary relationship of the three kinds of pecuniary liability for copyright infringement determines the necessity of their common application.Three principles should be followed to determine the relevant liability,namely,the principle of coexistence of private law and public law,the principle of deduction between administrative fines and criminal fines,and the priority principle of civil liability.Three principles should be followed in the determination of responsibility under the pecuniary responsibilities’ combination,namely,the principle of co-existence of private liability and public liability,the principle of deduction between administrative fine and criminal fine and the principle of priority of civil liability.On the premise of following the principle of priority of civil liability,which is the core principle,this paper made recommendations on the coordination of the aggregation of pecuniary liability for copyright infringement from three aspects.Comprehensively construct the three trial integration mode at the legislative level,establish the status of judicial final examination,and build administrative mediation mechanism for copyright disputes.