Work v. Bier

106 F.R.D. 45, 226 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 657, 2 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 679, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20158
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedMay 2, 1985
DocketCiv. A. No. 84-3500
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 106 F.R.D. 45 (Work v. Bier) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Work v. Bier, 106 F.R.D. 45, 226 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 657, 2 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 679, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20158 (D.D.C. 1985).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ARTHUR L. BURNETT, Sr., United States Magistrate.

The progress of discovery in this patent case has been stymied by several motions raising complex issues of international law and international relations in the context of determining the scope and applicability of the Hague Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters, done at the Hague on March 18, 1970, entered into force for the United States on October 7, 1972, 23 U.S.T. 2555, T.I.A.S. No. 7444, reprinted at 28 U.S.C.A. § 1781 note (West Supp.1985), referred to hereinafter as the Hague Evidence Convention, in connection with pretrial discovery of foreign nationals, a foreign corporation, Bayer Aktiengesellschaft, hereinafter Bayer AG,1 and of two foreign national individuals, Peter Bier and Rudolf Binsack, before the court as party defendants in a suit, which challenges the determination of Board of Patent Inferences of the Patent and Trademark Office in determining priority of invention, under 35 U.S.C. § 146. The importance of the issue has resulted in several memoranda being filed by the parties on each side of the issue, and the entry into this case of the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore of New York, general counsel for Bayer AG in the United States, with a comprehensive legal memorandum, on the basis that Bayer AG is one of the world’s largest chemical companies with extensive commercial transactions, some of which involve commerce in the United States, and that a decision in this case could have significant impact on other litigation in which it is involved in the United States.2

The issue here was precipitated by a February 4, 1985 Notice of Depositions [47]*47upon oral examination of the defendants Peter Bier, Rudolf Binsack, and

“Each attorney or agent responsible for the preparation and prosecution of German patent applications P-2653120 and P-2706128 filed November 23, 1976 and February 14, 1977, respectively, in the Federal Republic of Germany patent office.”

The notice further provided as to the defendant Bayer AG that it was to produce for deposition—

“The employee(s) of defendant Bayer AG most familiar with defendants’ practice of the invention covered by said German patent applications and the corresponding U.S. patent 4,223,113.”

These depositions were scheduled to take place at the Embassy of the United States in Bonn, West Germany beginning March 4, 1985 at 0900 and were to continue daily until completed. Further, the witnesses and defendants were “requested to bring with them to the depositions the originals or best copies of all of the documents and things called for by the Rule 34 request for production of documents served with the complaint in this action.”

On February 13, 1985 the defendants filed a motion to quash plaintiffs’ notice of depositions for oral examinations as being contrary to the Hague Evidence Convention, observing that in the Federal Republic of Germany, a civil law country, the taking of evidence is a judicial function rather than a private act of the parties and that when evidence is taken in West Germany, or attempted to be taken in West Germany without the participation or consent of the officials of West Germany, the judicial sovereignty of that Nation is considered to have been violated.3 In support of their position the defendants relied on the amicus brief of the Solicitor General of the United States in Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft v. Joseph Falzon, et al., decided at — U.S.-, 104 S.Ct. 1260, 79 L.Ed.2d 668 (1984) dismissing the appeal for want of prosecution.4 The defendants specifically relied upon the view of the Solicitor General that'the Hague Evidence Convention must be interpreted to preclude an evidence taking proceeding in the territory of a foreign State which is a party to it, if the Convention did not authorize it and the host country did not otherwise permit it.5

The motion to quash was followed by a motion from the plaintiffs to compel discovery, filed February 15, 1985, to require the defendants to furnish proper answers to plaintiffs’ first set of interrogatories, which also requested an award of expenses, including attorneys’ fees. The defendants responded with a motion, filed on February 19, 1985, to direct the plaintiffs to conduct discovery in compliance with the Hague Evidence Convention, stating in its Memorandum of Points and Authorities:

“Further study of the law relating to the Evidence Convention reveals that a more complete treatment of it is justified than appeared in defendants’ Statement of Points and Authorities in support of their Motion to Quash the plaintiffs’ Notice of Depositions, and further that all of the discovery of plaintiffs should be carried out in compliance with that treaty and not just oral depositions.
[48]*48This appears to be a case of first impression in this circuit in the intellectual property field. For that reason, and in view of the importance of the legal issues involved, this statement is submitted with respect to all of the discovery sought by plaintiffs.” (Emphasis in the original.) P. 4.

Counsel for the defendants expressly stated that their motion and the accompanying Statement of Points and Authorities were to be construed as a statement of points and authorities also in opposition to plaintiffs’ motion for an order compelling discovery, submitted on February 15, 1985.

Thereafter, counsel for the defendants requested an extension of time for the submission of further points an authorities to be presented in a comprehensive memorandum by Bayer AG’s general counsel law firm in the United States, Cravath, Swaine & Moore. See fn. 2, supra. Counsel, in making this request, stressed that defendant Bayer, which is one the largest chemical companies in the world, has substantial commercial interests to protect and that some of these interests already have, and in the future would, undoubtedly involve Bayer in litigation in the United States. Counsel asserted:

“The question of the proper role of the Hague Convention is one of substantial importance not only to defendant Bayer herein but also to all federal courts and all practitioners before federal courts who are likely to encounter legal issues with respect to the Evidence Convention during discovery proceedings abroad, not only in Germany but in every other country that is a party to the Convention.”

Following the receipt of the comprehensive memorandum from Cravath, Swaine & Moore and further opposition memoranda from the plaintiffs, the plaintiffs noticed the depositions of the defendants Peter Bier, Rudolf Binsack and Bayer AG for Washington, D.C., for April 8, 1985 at the Rohm and Haas Company Office.6 The Magistrate on March 25, 1985 held an extensive hearing on this issue and on other then pending motions. Since then the Magistrate has again reviewed all of the pleadings and memoranda in the court record and has extensively reviewed the judicial precedent and law review commentary because of the complexity and the importance of the issue presented.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
106 F.R.D. 45, 226 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 657, 2 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 679, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20158, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/work-v-bier-dcd-1985.