BREAKING: CJEU rules that EU law does NOT prevent punitive damages in IP cases
Does the Enforcement Directive (Directive 2004/28) prevent Member States from providing in their legislations the possibility to award punitive damages in IP cases? This was - in a nutshell - the issue on which the Polish Supreme Court had sought guidance from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in OTK v SFP , C-367/15 . This morning, contrary to the earlier Opinion of Advocate General Sharpston, the CJEU answered in the negative , holding that [para 28] " the fact that Directive 2004/48 does not entail an obligation on the Member States to provide for ‘punitive’ damages cannot be interpreted as a prohibition on introducing such a measure." More specifically, the Polish court had referred the following question: "Is Article 13 of [the Enforcement Directive] to be interpreted as meaning that the rightholder whose economic rights of copyright have been infringed may seek redress for ...