Mitigation of Penalties for Patent Crimes: Theories, Trends andMechanisms

The knowledge economy has made the protection of patent rights an increasingly important issue. This paper analyses the jurisprudential basis, social motivation of mitigation and the specific manifestations of mitigation in the legislation of patent crimes in different countries. It indicates that although some countries have increased the statutory penalty for counterfeiting patent crime, yet inflation and other factors have actually weakened the punitive strength of the fine penalty, reflecting the trend of mitigation of penalties for patent crimes. Nevertheless, this study applies three main research methods: theoretical analysis, comparative analysis, and empirical analysis whereas qualitative data will be textually analyzed. It also considers the influence of the progress of human civilization, the limited nature of penal resources, and the principles of behavioral economics on the mitigation of penalties, and offers recommendations for China’s patent crimes legislation. The key findings of this paper that how to identify the theory and practice of mitigating the penalties of patent crimes, legislative trends and its development mechanisms.