SPC Issues Judicial Interpretation on Punitive Damages in IP Infringement Cases
March 26, 2021 | BY
Susan MokDragon Wang and Yannan Li of Sitao IP discuss the several aspects of the SPC's recent judicial interpretation on punitive damages, namely clarity provided to what is meant by "willful" and "malicious", serious circumstances, how calculation base of punitive damages is determined and key takeaways from the interpretation
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To accurately apply punitive damages and clarify the judgment standards of courts at all levels, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) issued the Interpretation on Application of Punitive Damages in the Trial of Civil Intellectual Property Infringement Cases (the Interpretation) (关于审理侵害知识产权民事案件适用惩罚性赔偿的解释), which became effective on March 3, 2021. There are seven articles in the Interpretation that clearly stipulate the scope, content and time of the application, subjective and objective factors, base calculation, multiple determination and the likes of punitive damages, etc. covering all the aspects of the application of punitive damages.