Article 17 A business operator that violates this Law and thus causes damage to others shall bear civil liability for such damage in accordance with the law.
A business operator whose lawful rights and interests are infringed by an unfair competition act may file a lawsuit with a people's court.
The amount of compensation for damage caused by any unfair competition act to a business operator shall be determined depending on the actual losses suffered by such operator as a result of the infringement; where it is truly difficult to work out the actual losses, such amount shall be determined in accordance with the benefits obtained by the infringer from the infringement. Where a business operator is maliciously engaged in the infringement of commercial secrets, if the circumstance is serious, the amount of compensation may be determined between one time to five times the amount determined according to the above method. The amount of compensation shall also include the reasonable expenses paid by the damaged business operator to stop the infringement.
Where a business operator violates the provisions stipulated in Article 6 or Article 9 herein, and it is truly difficult to determine the actual losses suffered by the obligee as a result of the infringement or the benefits obtained by the infringer from the infringement, the people's court shall award the obligee less than CNY5 million in damages, depending on the seriousness of the infringement.
Article 18 Where a business operator violates Article 6 herein by performing any confusing act, the supervision and inspection authority shall order it to cease the offense, and confiscate its illicit commodities. If the illicit turnover exceeds CNY50, 000, it shall be fined up to five times the illicit turnover. If there is no illicit turnover or the illicit turnover is less than CNY50, 000, it shall be fined up to CNY250, 000; where the circumstance is serious, it business license shall be revoked.
Where a corporate name registered under a business operator violates the provisions of Article 6 herein, the business operator shall go through formalities to change its registered corporate name promptly. Prior to the change of the corporate name, the original corporate registration authority shall use the unified social credit code in lieu of its corporate name.
Article 19 Where a business operator bribes any other party in violation of Article 7 herein, the supervision and inspection authority shall confiscate its illegal gains, and impose on it a fine of between CNY100,000 and CNY3 million. Where the circumstance is serious, its business license shall be revoked.
Article 20 Where a business operator violates the provisions of Article 8 herein to conduct commercial promotions for its commodities in a false or misleading manner, or assists other business operators with commercial promotions in a false or misleading manner by way of organizing false transactions or by other means, the supervision and inspection authority shall order the business operator to cease its violations and impose on it a fine of between CNY200, 000 and CNY1 million; where the circumstance is serious, it shall be fined between CNY1 million and CNY2 million, and its business license may be revoked.
Where a business operator's violation of Article 8 herein constitutes the releasing of a false advertisement, it shall be punished according to the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China.
Article 21 Where a business operator or any other natural person, legal person or unincorporated organization infringes any commercial secret in violation of Article 9 herein, the supervision and inspection authority shall order it to cease the illegal act, confiscated the illegal gains and impose on it a fine of between CNY100, 000 and CNY1 million; where the circumstance is serious, the fine shall be between CNY500, 000 and CNY5 million.
Article 22 Where a business operator makes a prize-attached sale in violation of Article 10 herein, the supervision and inspection authority shall order it to cease the illegal act and impose on it a fine of between CNY50, 000 and CNY500, 000.
Article 23 Where a business operator causes injury to the credit standing of its rivals or the reputation of its rivals' commodities in violation of Article 11 herein, the supervision and inspection authority shall order it to cease the illegal act and eliminate any bad influences, and impose on it a fine of between CNY100, 000 and CNY500, 000; where the circumstance is serious, the fine shall be between CNY500, 000 and CNY3 million.
Article 24 Where a business operator impedes or disrupts the normal operation of network products or services legally provided by another business operator, in violation of Article 12 herein, the supervision and inspection authority shall order it to cease the illegal act and impose on it a fine of between CNY100, 000 and CNY500, 000; where the circumstance is serious, the fine shall be between CNY500, 000 and CNY3 million.
Article 25 Where a business operator performs any unfair competition act in violation of the provisions herein, and if such operator proactively eliminates or relieves the harmful consequence of its illegal act, it shall be subject to a lighter or mitigated administrative penalty; if the illegal act is considered as a minor violation and is corrected in a timely manner without leading to any harmful consequence, it may not be subject to an administrative penalty.
Article 26 Where a business operator is subject to the administrative penalty for performing an unfair competition act in violation of this Law, the supervision and inspection authority shall enter such penalty in its credit record and publicly disclose the same in accordance with the relevant laws or administrative regulations.
Article 27 Where a business operator shall bear civil liability, administrative liability and criminal liability as a result of its violation of the provisions herein, but its property is not sufficient to cover all the damages, the civil liability shall take precedence.
Article 28 Where a party obstructs the efforts of the supervision and inspection authority to fulfill its duties according to this Law, refusing or impeding the investigations, the supervision and inspection authority shall order it to make corrections, and impose a fine of up to CNY5, 000 if the party is an individual, or a fine of up to CNY50, 000 if the party is an entity, and the public security organ may impose a public security punishment according to the law.
Article 29 Where the party concerned disagrees with the decision made by the supervision and inspection authority, it may apply for administrative reconsideration or file an administrative lawsuit.
Article 30 Where any staff member of a supervision and inspection authority abuses powers, neglects duties, commits malpractices or reveals any commercial secrets known during the investigations, such staff member shall be subject to punishment in accordance with the law.
Article 31 Where any violation of this Law constitutes a crime, there shall be an investigation for criminal liability.
Article 32 During the civil trial of infringement cases of commercial secrets, where the preliminary evidence provided by an obligee of commercial secrets can prove that it has taken measures to keep confidentiality of its such commercial secrets and can reasonably indicate that such commercial secrets have been infringed, the alleged infringer shall prove that the commercial secrets claimed by the obligee do not fall with the scope of commercial secrets as provided in this Law.
Where the obligee of commercial secrets provides preliminary evidence that can reasonably indicate the commercial secrets have been infringed and provides one of the following evidence, the alleged infringer shall prove that there is no infringement of any commercial secret:
1.there is evidence showing that the alleged infringer has access to or opportunities to obtain such commercial secrets and the information used by the alleged infringer is substantially identical to such commercial secrets;
2.there is evidence showing that such commercial secrets have been or have the possibility of being published or used by the alleged infringer;
3.there is any other evidence showing that such commercial secrets have been infringed by the alleged infringer.