ALJ Rodgers Rules on Motions to Preclude in Inv. No. 337-TA-690
ALJ Rodgers granted Oki Data’s motion to preclude Ricoh from relying on earlier conception and reduction to practice dates where Ricoh improperly supplemented its interrogatory responses. The earlier conception and reduction to practice dates were not asserted to be newly acquired information. As a result, the supplemental answers were not proper under Commission Rule 210.274(c)(1) because the purpose of the supplement or correction was not to include “information thereafter acquired.”
ALJ Rodgers also held that Oki Data’s attempt to seek an order requiring Ricoh’s employees to travel from Japan to the United States for deposition improper. The normal practice in the ITC investigation is for the deposition to occur at the place where the deponent works or resides absent a showing of hardship or unusual experience.
ALJ Rodgers further found Oki Data’s deposition requests untimely even though served twenty-two days prior to the close of fact discovery. Oki Data should have known that the witnesses were located in Japan and should have initiated the discovery in sufficient time to permit such depositions in accordance with the applicable rules for depositions in Japan. (PDF)
