Foreign discovery under the Hague Convention is denied.
Farnan, J. Court grants non-party’s motion to quash and denies defendants’ application requesting issuance of a letter of request for documents and deposition testimony in Germany under the Hague Convention.
Defendants filed an application requesting issuance of a letter of request for documents and deposition testimony from employee of non-party German corporation. The documents and deposition testimony defendants seek relate to the German corporation’s opposition to the European counterpart to the patent-in-suit. Defendants have also issued a subpoena to the German company’s US affiliate seeking documents substantially identical to those it seeks under the Hague Convention, and for the deposition of the US entity in order to examine its claim that it lacks control over the documents defendants seeks. The US entity moved to quash the deposition subpoena. The Court notes that under Rule 26(b) (2) (C), it must limit the frequency and extent of discovery that can be obtained from sources less burdensome or less expensive. After reviewing the parties’ contentions, the Court is unpersuaded that a letter of request under the Hague Convention is warranted here. To the extent that defendants seek foreign patents and publications related to prior art, defendants can do so on their own without judicial intervention. Other information sought by defendants is too general and too peripherally relevant to the matter at issue to justify issuing a letter of request under the Hague Convention. The same is true of defendants’ request for deposition testimony. Thus the Court denies defendants’ request and grants the motion to quash.
