Are punitive damages applicable to intellectual property infringement in 2023?

According to the provisions of the Civil Code, if a product is produced or sold knowing that the product is defective and causes serious personal or property losses to consumers, punitive damages may be imposed on the producer or operator. So is punitive damages applicable? Intellectual property infringement? The following is the answer given by the editor of Legal Savior Network for readers. I hope the following knowledge will be helpful to readers.

1. Are punitive damages applicable to intellectual property infringement

Punitive damages Applicable to intellectual property infringements, for example, the Trademark Law stipulates that for malicious infringement of trademark exclusive rights and the circumstances are serious, the Amount of compensation can be determined to be not less than one time but not more than five times the amount determined according to the above method.

2. Relevant legal provisions

Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China

Article 1,227 Infringement of the exclusive right to use a trademark The amount of compensation shall be determined based on the actual losses suffered by the right holder due to the infringement; if the actual losses are difficult to determine, it may be determined based on the benefits obtained by the infringer due to the infringement; if the losses incurred by the right holder or the benefits obtained by the infringer are difficult to determine, refer to the The multiple of the trademark license fee shall be reasonably determined. For malicious infringement of trademark exclusive rights and the circumstances are serious, the amount of compensation may be determined to be not less than one time but not more than five times the amount determined according to the above method. The amount of compensation should include the reasonable expenses paid by the right owner to stop the infringement.

In order to determine the amount of compensation, the people's court may, if the right holder has tried its best to provide evidence and the account books and materials related to the infringement are mainly in the possession of the infringer. Order the infringer to provide account books and materials related to the infringement; if the infringer fails to provide or provides false account books and materials, the people's court may determine the amount of compensation with reference to the rights holder's claims and the evidence provided.

If it is difficult to determine the actual losses suffered by the right holder due to the infringement, the benefits obtained by the infringer due to the infringement, and the registered trademark license fee, the People's Court shall decide based on Depending on the circumstances of the infringement, a compensation of less than five million yuan may be awarded.

When hearing trademark dispute cases, the People's Court shall, at the request of the right holder, exclude goods belonging to counterfeit registered trademarks, except for special cases.Except under special circumstances, the company shall order them to be destroyed; materials and tools mainly used to manufacture goods with counterfeit registered trademarks shall be ordered to be destroyed without compensation; or in special circumstances, the above-mentioned materials and tools shall be ordered to be prohibited from entering commercial channels without compensation.

Goods with counterfeit registered trademarks shall not enter commercial channels after only removing the counterfeit registered trademarks.

The above knowledge is the editor’s answer to relevant legal issues. Punitive damages are applicable to intellectual property infringements. For example, the trademark law stipulates that malicious infringement of exclusive rights to trademarks , if the circumstances are serious, the amount of compensation may be determined not less than one time but not more than five times the amount determined according to the above method. If you need legal help, readers can go to the Legal Savior Network for consultation. The Legal Savior Network has the most professional lawyers to answer your questions.