Beijing High Court released on the morning of April 25 the Guide to the Trial of Punitive Damages in Civil Cases of Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights and applicable typical cases of punitive damages. The Guide contains 51 Articles, which specify the substantive and procedural issues involved in the applicable elements and calculation methods of punitive damages, and clarifies the total amount of compensation determined by applicable punitive damages: the sum of base + base × multiple, and further lists in detail the consideration factors that can be used to calculate the compensation base such as actual loss and infringement profit, and stipulates the common consideration factors of punitive damages multiple and the individualized consideration factors of infringement of different types of intellectual property rights, which provides sufficient basis for calculating the amount of punitive damages. 

Especially, the Guide provides specific provisions on the application of punitive damages to network service providers. Where the network service provider instigates the network user or knows that the network user intentionally infringes on the intellectual property rights of others by using its network service and the circumstances are serious, the obligee has the right to request the court to apply punitive damages to the network service provider. In view of the severity of intellectual property rights infringement in live webcasts and purchasing behaviors, the Guide stipulates that if the network service provider knows that the streamer of live commerce and procurement deliberately and seriously infringes intellectual property rights by using their network services and fails to take reasonable and effective measures to stop them without justifiable reasons, it shall bear punitive damages together with the streamer of live commerce and procurement according to law. 

The conference also released many typical cases of applicable punitive damages. Take the trademark rights infringement and unfair competition disputes of Beijing Jingbaidu Catering Management Co., Ltd. (referred to as Jingbaidu) for instance, the defendant Jingbaidu and its branches used the word "Baidu" in their enterprise names, and highlighted the "Baidu" logo in business operation, which was deemed by the court as infringement against the trademark rights of Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (referred to as Baidu Company for short). The court thus supported Baidu Company's request for punitive damages. After comprehensive assessment on the gravity of subjective fault, the duration of infringement, the profit of infringement and the damage caused to Baidu Company by Jingbaidu and its branches, the court calculated the punitive damages, and finally sentenced Jingbaidu Company and its branches to compensate Baidu Company for economic losses of more than 2.27 million yuan. 

The Guide will play a significant role in stimulating innovation and curbing serious infringement, while maintaining the guiding stance in cracking down on intellectual property infringement and standardizing the development of platform economy.