The incentive would always be to intentionally ignore and violate patents then, as you'd be guaranteed to profit from doing so (even in the rare case that you a

The incentive would always be to intentionally ignore and violate patents then, as you'd be guaranteed to profit from doing so (even in the rare case that you are caught and convicted, you'd pay a maximum of the amount you benefitted from it). Punitive damages try to make that expected value negative - it makes sense.