LD Mannheim, July 31, 2024, Order concerning service, UPC_CFI_330/2024

A further attempt to serve the Statement of Claim by alternative means or at another place pursuant to Rule 275.1 RoP shall not be required as soon as all possibilities of service under Rules 270-274 RoP have been exhausted and the central authority of the requested State competent under the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters seriously and finally refuses service because and as long as the designation of the defendant’s place of business by the plaintiff does not correspond to its political views. [Service denied because Statement of Claim simply referred to “Hong Kong” instead of “Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China”]

There shall be no censorship or redaction by the Court of the pleadings filed by the parties before the Unified Patent Court at the request of the Central Authority of the State requested to effectuate service.

The order under Rule 275.2 RoP recognizing the steps already taken to bring the Statement of Claim to the attention of the defendant as valid service shall be published on the homepage of the Unified Patent Court if service of the order under Part 5, Chapter 2 on the defendant is unlikely to succeed for the same reasons.