Issues of international service are often rather mundane, not to say, boring technicalities. Nevertheless, in international litigation, service abroad is the eye of the needle through which every dispute must go. A recent judgment by the Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof) is therefore highly welcome, as it addresses technicalities such as the interpretation of a certificate of service from the Chinese Central Authority under the Hague Service Convention, and the extent to which documents that support a statement of claim (Klageschrift) must be translated into the Chinese language, in order for service in China to be effective. Read More
Tag: Hague Service Conventionn
Loriot v. Wikipedia – Transatlantic Service and Injunctive Relief
“Loriot”
by Phillip von Ostau
For Germans, this case pitches two iconic names against each other: Loriot was one of Germany’s most loved comedians, actors, film makers and cartoonists. He passed away in August 2011. Shortly thereafter, his daughter sued Wikimedia Foundation in the Berlin courts for allegedly violating Loriot’s copyright. Wikipedia’s German entry for Loriot depicted, inter alia, postal stamps with Loriot cartoons. For the purposes of this blog, the judgment of the Berlin District Court (Landgericht) is interesting not so much for the copyright issues – on these, Loriot’s daughter prevailed on one, and lost on the other – but rather for its holding relating to service of a German injunction in the United States. Read More
Service of Process Under The Hague Service Convention: A US Perspective
In two recent posts, we looked at the attitude of German courts to service under the Hague Convention in the context of default judgments, and of judicial review of foreign service requests. Today’s guest post by Ted Folkman of Letters Blogatory complements this little series, adding the US perspective in a US-German litigation: Oak Point Partners v. Lessing (N.D. Cal. 2012) illustrates how a US court deals with defences raised by a German defendant with respect to service: Read More