Hewlett-Packard v Zhuhai ouguan Electronic Technology (UPC_CFI_449/2025)
Decision date:
16 October 2025
Osborne Clarke summary
- HP had sought a preliminary injunction and further provisional measures against the defendants for alleged infringement of two of its patents.
- The application had to be served outside of the jurisdiction on the first defendant. Service was initiated in June 2025 via the official online portal of the Central Authority of China. According to the portal, the documents were forwarded to the Supreme People's Court for further processing the following day. No further processing steps could be seen on the portal.
- HP asked the first defendant to voluntarily accept service by mid-September 2025. This was unsuccessful. Following this, HP requested that the Düsseldorf LD inquire as to the status of the service with the Central Authority of China. The Düsseldorf LD received a response noting that the documents had not been served as there was no company at the address provided.
- HP requested an order from the Düsseldorf LD acknowledging that the steps already taken constituted good service as per Rule 275.2 RoP.
- The Düsseldorf LD stated that it had complied with all formal requirements set out in the Hague Convention, to which the Chinese authorities did not object. The court held that HP had "credibly demonstrated" that the address provided for service was accurate and corresponded with the company's registered address.
- The Düsseldorf LD noted that Article 15(3) of the Hague Convention recognises that formal service requirements and associated time limits (in Article 15(2) of the Hague Convention) may prevent an applicant for provisional measures from having effective protection and therefore allows the ordering of provisional measures in urgent cases.
- In this case, all efforts to serve the application or otherwise bring it to the first defendant's attention had failed. As such, it was necessary to order that the steps taken constituted good service under Rule 275.2 RoP. Service was deemed to be effective as of the date of this decision.
- A related decision can be found here.
Issue
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