Sunday, January 02, 2005

What's new at the firm: Judgment in trade secret / Taiwan case

One of the purposes of the blog will be to update Internet users who mysteriously find their way here on what sorts of things are new at the Coleman Law Firm. Unlike lawyer bloggers such as the guys at Powerline and Beldar who use their powerfully honed intellects and razor-sharp legal sensibilities merely to weigh in on ponderous world events, I am unapologetically and explicitly pitching for your business here. Then I will weigh in on ponderous world events, virtually insuring that I don't get your business.

Anyway, after our papers wended (did wend?) their way, seemingly forever, through the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, we've obtained an order for a client involved in manufacturing and distributing certain furniture products, which prevents a Taiwanese company -- and, significantly, any person acting "in concert" with that company -- from importing specified merchandise to the U.S.

That doesn't sound fair, does it?

Well, how about the fact that our client went to Taiwan to teach these guys how to manufacture this product to specific proprietary standards, and at our client's own expense? And that the Taiwanese guys agreed in writing not to manufacture this product for anyone else? And that after our guys decided this factory simply could not meet their quality standards and ceased ordering merchandise, the chaps in Taiwan refused to return their manufacturing molds and starting selling the stuff on the open market? Now that doesn't sound right.

Part of the reason it took so long to get this order is that the Taiwanese company is in a foreign country. But exactly what country it's in is a problem, you know? Taiwan is not a country except as far as the Taiwanese are concerned. Under international law they are merely a very pesky (and well armed) province of the People's Republic of China. Well, to make a long story short, serving a company in Taiwan with process (it helps that they had agreed to a New Jersey forum for all disputes) is no piece of cake. Convincing your friendly neighborhood court clerk that you have succeeded in doing so is even harder -- especially when you get a different story from each clerk that answers the phone.

We finally went around the clerk and got the judge's attention, and a decently prompt signed order -- yes, by default, but I guess that's kind of my specialty -- granting a fairly strong injunction against the importation of this stuff. Now our client can use it to enforce its rights against would-be importers. More than this, plaintiff does not say.

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