Spin Master Corp. said it won a record damages award against a Chinese company that was making unauthorized copies of its Bakugan children’s toys.

The Suzhou Intermediate Peoples’ Court awarded 15.5 million renminbi (US$2.2 million), which the company’s lawyers believe is the most ever given to a foreign patent owner in a Chinese court case. The figure was based on sales of copycat products in China.

“Patent cases haven’t been producing very big awards,” in China, said Spin Master’s lawyer, Doug Clark, who works for the Rouse law firm in Hong Kong. “There is a willingness of the courts to take a broader view of damages.”

Foreign patent owners have long complained about the low amounts they can get in compensation from Chinese companies that copy their patented inventions. New patent legislation would increase statutory damages and allow for punitive damages of as much as five times the initial amount set by the court.

Toronto-based Spin Master has been aggressive in protecting its products against copycats around the world. It has a pending lawsuit against its biggest rival, Mattel Inc., over a competitor to Bakugan, in which players roll a ball that opens into a mechanical figure when it lands on special cards.

Last year, Spin Master won a suit against another Chinese company that was selling Bakugan knock-offs in the Asian nation, but with a lower damage amount.

And it’s not just Bakugan. After local prosecutors declined to act, Spin Master successfully filed a private criminal action against another firm that was selling counterfeits of its Hatchimals on Alibaba and other e-commerce sites. Three people were sentenced to three years in prison and the companies were fined, according to the lawyers.The company’s efforts aren’t limited to China. In December, it won an order in a New York court that halted sales of a copy of its Air Hogs Zero Gravity Laser toy.