In re Application of George W. Schlich, No. 17-1377 (1st Cir. 2018)
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The First Circuit affirmed the decision of the district court denying Petitioner’s request for discovery from Respondents in relation to opposition proceedings before the European Patent Office (EPO) under 28 U.S.C. 1782(a) for lack of relevance to the foreign proceeding.
In the opposition proceedings, Petitioner, a patent agent, challenged the validity of several of Respondents’ European patents involving CRISPR-Cas9 technology used in the programmable genome editing of mammalian cells. Petitioner filed an application for discovery under section 1782 seeking documents and testimony from Respondents. The district court denied Petitioner’s petition, ruling that Petitioner had not demonstrated that the discovery sought was “relevant” to the opposition proceedings and failed to show that the EPO would be receptive to the district court’s assistance in providing the requested discovery. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that the district court did not misapply the law in denying the requested discovery under section 1782.
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