Research On The Judicial Application Of Punitive Damages For Patent Infringement In China

Intellectual property is the exclusive right of intellectual labor achievements created by people in social practice.Its role as a strategic resource for national development and a core element of international competitiveness has become increasingly prominent as China enters a new stage of development.Improving the intellectual property protection system has also become an urgent issue to be addressed.In fact,the field of patent protection in China has always faced a judicial dilemma of "easy infringement,difficult proof,and low compensation." The infringers,driven by high profits,continue to infringe on the effective patents of other parties,which seriously affects the sustainable development of innovation.In order to curb patent infringement and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of victims,following the general provision on punitive liability for compensation in the field of intellectual property in Article 1185 of the Civil Code,China also added this provision in the newly revised Patent Law in 2020,reflecting the high degree of attention the country attaches to the protection of intellectual property.However,from the perspective of judicial practice,it is often difficult for courts to support victims’ claims for punitive damages in patent infringement disputes.Legal compensation still dominates.Through analyzing and studying the application status and typical cases of punitive damages for patent infringement in China,it can be seen that the main reasons for the low judicial application rate are the following three aspects: first,the specific criteria for determining the applicable conditions have not been clarified.One is whether "serious circumstances" can be used as an objective applicable condition,and whether its establishment is necessary is still controversial;The second is that even though relevant judicial interpretations have stipulated the criteria for determining subjective and objective conditions,they are still not clear and specific enough,and various courts have failed to reach a unified understanding and application of them.Secondly,the allocation of the burden of proof between the parties lacks rationality.Under the premise of meeting the principle of "who claims,who provides evidence",the burden of proof that the infringed person needs to bear is undoubtedly very heavy.At the same time,the required standard of proof is on the high side,and the evidence discovery system that has yet to be improved has not been effective,resulting in plaintiffs often unable to provide evidence to prove all the facts they claim.Finally,the amount of compensation cannot be determined.The amount of punitive damages is the product value obtained by multiplying the base number by a certain multiple.The base number specified in the Patent Law includes three categories,namely,actual losses,infringement profits,and multiple royalties,but it is difficult to accurately calculate the results.Therefore,it is proposed to take legal compensation as the base.However,the feasibility of such an approach remains to be further studied.The multiple is at the discretion of the people’s court within the legal range of one to five times,lacking specific refinement standards.Based on this,in order to strengthen patent protection and truly bring into play the various functions of the punitive damages rule,it is necessary to explore the optimal path for the application of the damages rule in the patent field of our country based on the investigation of the relevant extraterritorial legislative status and beneficial experience of judicial precedents,combined with the national conditions of our country.In terms of the applicable conditions of this rule,it is not only necessary to clarify the relationship between "intent" and "serious circumstances",that is,the coexistence relationship between the two,but also to elaborate on the factors and circumstances that need to be referenced to identify the subjective and objective elements,and clarify their identification criteria.At the same time,in order to reduce the difficulty of proof for the obligee and improve the judicial application rate of punitive damages,it is necessary to actively adopt the system of obstruction of proof while improving the system of evidence discovery,and appropriately reduce the standard of proof for the plaintiff in order to improve the rules of evidence for patent infringement.In addition,the calculation of the amount of damages cannot be separated from the determination of the base and multiple.In terms of compensation base,the calculation method of discretionary compensation is introduced,and it is recognized that statutory compensation should not be applied as a base.At the same time,the application order of compensation base should be adjusted,giving the patentee the right of arbitrary choice;In terms of compensation multiples,judges need to follow the principle of proportionality and elaborate processing to scientifically and reasonably determine the compensation multiples.