Intellectual Property Rights Infringement Cases REF#6407

Many countries, including Vietnam, have introduced articles into laws to prescribe the damages that can be claimed through the courts by brand owners against entities that have infringed upon their Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). Such damages may include ‘material damages’ such as revenue opportunity losses, as well as ‘spiritual damages’ in which the actions of the infringing party have damaged the brand owner’s non-monetary assets such as the prestige and reputation of the brand. Profits retained by the offending party as a result of the infringing actions are often required to be returned to the brand owner.

Cambodia does not have such provisions – the courts use normal Civil Code provisions when considering damages for IPR infringement cases. This formulation tends to result in lower levels of compensation than would be expected in an equivalent case in many other countries. Furthermore, the Civil Code does not contain any provisions that require profits retained by the offending party as a result of the infringing actions to be returned to the brand owner.

The lack of specific remedies for IPR infringement cases, resulting in relatively low levels of compensation being awarded to brand owners through the courts, means that the risk of having to pay damages to the brand owner does not serve as a large deterrent effect to entities considering engaging in IPR infringement. Indeed, as profits can be retained by the offending party, there can be an economic incentive to engage in such activity. This lessens the array of tools available to protect the IPR of legitimate brand owners.