United States Ninth Circuit

In a suit brought by biopharmaceutical company that develops products using similar chemical compounds as defendant's products,disputing the validity of defendant's European and Japanese patents and, accordingly, initiating opposition proceedings in both the European Patent Office and the Japanese Patent Office, the district court's order granting an ex parte application, filed by plaintiff pursuant to 28 U.S.C. section 1782, for discovery in aid of foreign proceedings, is affirmed where: 1) plaintiff was an "interested person" seeking to invoke the discovery mechanism set forth under section 1782; and 2) both the European and Japanese Patent Offices were "foreign or international tribunal[s]" within the meaning of section 1782

Appellate Information

• Decided 07/16/2015
• Published 07/16/2015

Judges

• Graber

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel