IN RE: Ex Parte Application of the BORN KOREA (2026)

ORDER GRANTING EX PARTE APPLICATION FOR ORDER PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1782 AUTHORIZING DISCOVERY FOR USE IN FOREIGN PROCEEDINGS

Re: Dkt. No. 1

The Born Korea, Co. Ltd. seeks an ex parte order under 28 U.S.C. § 1782 authorizing it to obtain documents from Google LLC to use in a court proceeding in the Republic of Korea. The Born Korea is a company incorporated in the Republic of Korea and is suing several anonymous individuals for defamation and business interference in the Republic of Korea. The Born Korea seeks discovery from Google in order to identify those individuals. The application is granted.

I. The Born Korea satisfies the requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 1782.

The Born Korea satisfies all three statutory requirements for this Court to authorize discovery under 28 U.S.C. § 1782: (1) the target must reside in this district, (2) the discovery must be “for use in a proceeding in a foreign or international tribunal,” and (3) the application must be made by that tribunal or another “interested person.” Khrapunov v. Prosyankin, 931 F.3d 922, 925 (9th Cir. 2019). The Born Korea satisfies the first requirement because Google's principal office in Mountain View, California, is located in this district. The second requirement is satisfied because the discovery sought is for use in pending lawsuits in the Seoul Central District Court in the Republic of Korea. The third requirement is satisfied because The Born Korea is an interested person as the plaintiff in those South Korean lawsuits. See Intel Corp. v. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., 542 U.S. 241, 256, 124 S.Ct. 2466, 159 L.Ed.2d 355 (2004) (discussing litigants as perhaps “the most common” interested persons who may invoke § 1782).

II. The Intel factors favor granting the application.

The discretionary factors identified in Intel also favor granting The Born Korea's application. The four Intel factors are (1) whether the entity from whom discovery is sought is a participant in the foreign proceeding; (2) the nature of the foreign tribunal, the character of the proceedings, and the receptivity of the tribunal to judicial assistance by this Court; (3) whether the request conceals an attempt to circumvent foreign proof-gathering restrictions or other policies of a foreign country or the United States; and (4) whether the request is unduly intrusive or burdensome. Intel Corp., 542 U.S. at 264–65, 124 S.Ct. 2466. All four Intel factors favor authorizing discovery here. First, Google is not a participant in the foreign proceeding. As The Born Korea argues, Google therefore “may be outside the [South Korean] tribunal's jurisdictional reach” such that its “evidence, available in the United States, may be unobtainable absent § 1782(a) aid.” Id. at 264, 124 S.Ct. 2466; see also In re W. Face Cap. Inc., No. 19-MC80260-LB, 2019 WL 5617891, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 31, 2019). Second, The Born Korea represents that no known restrictions or policies under South Korean law limit U.S. federal court judicial assistance. To the contrary, the Born Korea represents that “courts in the Republic of Korea are receptive to assistance in discovery by United States federal courts, including for discovery of [personal identifying information] of individuals posting anonymous online statements.” Third, no evidence suggests that The Born Korea is attempting to circumvent foreign proof-gathering restrictions or policies. Fourth, the information The Born Korea requests is narrowly tailored and neither unduly intrusive nor burdensome. See Declaration of Kyongsok Chong, Dkt. No. 1-2 ¶¶ 21-37 (explaining why the information The Born Korea seeks is necessary to identify the defendants in the South Korean lawsuits); In re Starship Ent. Co., Ltd., No. 23-MC-80147-BLF, 2023 WL 5520772, at *3 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 25, 2023) (authorizing similar discovery).

Accordingly, the Court finds it appropriate to grant the application.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:

1. The Born Korea's application is GRANTED;

2. The Born Korea is AUTHORIZED to issue and serve on Google a subpoena that is substantially similar to the proposed subpoena attached to the application as Exhibit A;

3. The Born Korea shall serve a copy of this order and each authorized subpoena on Google, as applicable;

4. No later than 10 days after service of the subpoenas, Google shall notify all account users whose personal identifying information is affected by the subpoena that their identifying information is being sought by The Born Korea;

5. Google and each account user whose information is sought may file no later than 21 days after service or notice, as applicable, a motion to quash or modify the subpoenas; and

6. If no motion to quash or modify the respective subpoenas is filed within the time period prescribed above, Google, as applicable, shall disclose the information sought by the respective subpoenas within 3 days after the expiration of the prescribed time period.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

P. Casey Pitts, United States District Judge