China's New Patent Law Allows Quintuple Damages

According to stories published in the National Law Review and on ChinaIPR last week, the Chinese government has now approved a long-anticipated amendment to China's Patent Act.  ChinaIPR also links to the text of the amendment in Chinese. Unfortunately, Chinese is not a language I can read, but according to the reports--and consistent with what Google Translate relates--the amendment is consistent with earlier drafts (see discussion here) in providing for, among other things, damages enhancements of up to five times the plaintiff's actual damages, defendant's profit, or a reasonable royalty, and for statutory damages of up to 5 million RMB (about U.S.$748,000).  This is also consistent with changes made to China's law on trademarks and unfair competition last year.  Here is what appears to be the relevant text of the patent law amendment, found on page 3 of the Chinese text:

 二十三、将第六十五条改为第七十一条，修改为：“侵犯专利权的赔偿数额按照权利人因被侵权所受到的实际损失或因侵权所获得的利益确定；权利人的损失或者侵权人获得的利益难以确定的，参照该专利许可使用费的倍数合理确定。对专利权，情节严重的，可以在按照上述方法确定数额的一倍以上五倍以下确定赔偿数额。
“权利人的损失、侵权人获得的利益和专利许可使用费均难以确定的，人民法院可以根据专利权的类型、侵权行为的节等因素，确定给予三万元以上五百万元以下的赔偿。
“赔偿数额还应当包括权利人为制止侵权行为所支付的合理开支。