You are entitled to claim compensation for loss and the agreed liquidated damages, and may under some circumstances receive a punitive damages award.
For contract disputes:
If the defendant is in breach of the contract, you may require the defendant to continue to fulfill their contractual obligations, take remedial measures, compensate for your losses, or even pay the agreed liquidated damages.
As far as the compensation is concerned, the amount of compensation should be equal to the loss (including the expectant benefits in case of no breach) caused by the breach of contract, provided that, it shall not exceed the potential losses caused by the breach of contract that the breaching party foresaw or should have foreseen when concluding the contract.
For product liability disputes:
If the products made or sold by the defendant injured your physical health or property due to non-conforming quality, then you can claim compensation against the defendant.
For your property loss, you can request the defendant to replace the damaged product with a new one or refund the purchasing price, or even compensate you for other property losses caused by the defective product.
For your personal injury, you can claim compensation for medical expenses, nursing expenses, mobility & daily living aids expenses, disability compensation, funeral expenses, death compensation, and other expenses.
If the defendant commits fraud, you can also claim compensation equal to three times the above losses.
However, it should be noted that for personal injury compensation, Chinese courts may determine the amount of compensation according to local standards in China.
For the intellectual property infringement:
If the defendant infringes your intellectual property rights, you can request the defendant to compensate you for the actual loss.
If it is difficult to determine the actual loss, you can request the defendant to compensate you an amount equal to the benefit they obtain.
If it is difficult to determine both your loss and the benefit obtained by the defendant, you can request the amount of compensation to be determined ranging from one to five times your intellectual property license fees/royalties.
If none of the above can be determined, you can also request the court to award compensation within CNY 5 million according to the severity of the infringement.
The Cross-border Trade Dispute 101 Series (‘CTD 101 Series’) provides an introduction to China-related cross-border trade dispute, and covers the knowledge essential to cross-border trade dispute resolution and debt collection.
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Do you need support in cross-border trade and debt collection?
CJO Global's team can provide you with China-related cross-border trade risk management and debt collection services, including:
(1) Trade Dispute Resolution
(2) Debt Collection
(3) Judgments and Awards Collection
(4) Anti-Counterfeiting & IP Protection
(5) Company Verification and Due Diligence
(6) Trade Contract Drafting and Review
If you need our services, or if you wish to share your story, you can contact our Client Manager Susan Li (susan.li@yuanddu.com).
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Photo by Antonella Vilardo on Unsplash
Contributors: Meng Yu 余萌
