(Yicai Global) Dec. 24 -- The Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, its legislature, is deliberating a draft amendment to the country's patent law that could hike penalties for violators.

The draft proposes that infringers who intentionally breach the law should compensate the patent holder as much as five times the damages caused, the perpetrator's benefit or the cost of the patent fee, according to documents seen by Yicai Global. It also raises fines for when damages cannot be calculated to between CNY100,000 (USD14,500) and CNY5 million (CNY725 million), up from CNY10,000 and CNY1 million.

The existing law states that compensation should be a multiple of the patent license fee based on the holder's losses, but does not specify how many times larger it should be. This applies whether or not the losses or infringer's gains can be calculated.

"Under normal stances, the draft is likely to be passed between April and June next year after first, second and third reviews," an insider involved in China policymaking said, adding that this is the first time the document has made its way to the legislature.

The Standing Committee began deliberating the draft in Beijing yesterday and will continue to do so until Dec. 29.

Editor: James Boynton