Treaty didn’t block depositions in Macau

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted January 3, 2022 11:55 AM

During trade secrets litigation in Chicago, Inventus Power asked the defendant, Shenzhen Ace Battery Co., to hand over documents from its headquarters in the Peoples Republic of China and arrange for depositions nine Ace employees who live in the PRC. But a “blocking statute” required Inventus to get permission from Chinese authorities under the Hague Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters. And that wasn’t an appetizing proposition. A 2011 law review article says the PRC had only granted …

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