Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court on the Application of Punitive Damages in the Trial of Civil Cases of Intellectual Property Infringement was adopted on 7 Feb. 2021, and entered into force on 3 Mar. 2021.
There are 7 articles in total. The Interpretation aims to improve the punitive damages system for intellectual property rights and strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights.
The key points are as follows:
The plaintiff requesting punitive damages shall specify the amount of damages, the calculation method, and the facts and grounds on which the request is based when filing the lawsuit.
When determining the amount of punitive damages, the people’s court shall take the amount of actual loss of the plaintiff, the amount of illegal income of the defendant or the benefits obtained from the infringement as the calculation base separately according to the relevant laws. Where it is difficult to compute the amount of actual loss, the amount of illegal income and the benefits obtained from the infringement, the people’s court shall reasonably determine the amount with reference to the multiple of the right’s royalties in accordance with the law, and make the amount as the calculation base for the amount of punitive damages.
When determining the multiple of punitive damages in accordance with the law, the people’s court shall take full account of factors such as the degree of subjective fault of the defendant and the seriousness of the infringement.