When U.S. Discovery Meets China's New Data And Privacy Laws

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. v. Syntronic AB et al.¹ (“Cadence”) is being recognized as one of the first significant decisions regarding discovery disputes involving Chinese companies claiming that Chinese law, specifically the recently enacted Personal Information Protection Law (“PIPL”), would prevent them from complying with discovery obligations in U.S. proceedings.

Cadence is a patent dispute where the plaintiff, Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (“CDS”), alleged unlicensed use of its software against multiple defendants. In the course of discovery, CDS requested the defendant, Syntronic (Beijing) Technology R&D Center Co., Ltd (“Syntronic Beijing”), to provide several computers that were located in China as part of a discovery request. Syntronic Beijing objected to this, claiming that Chinese data laws and, specifically, the PIPL prevented it from complying with this request.