Rolling The Dice On Foreign Depositions In IPR Proceedings

In litigation, it is not uncommon for depositions to be taken outside the U.S., particularly when a given witness resides outside the U.S. and cannot or does not wish to travel to the U.S. In IPR proceedings, however, a foreign-based witness's testimony may be discarded if the witness won't come to the U.S. for a deposition.

Regarding depositions following the submission of declaration testimony, Rule 42.53(b)(2) provides that deposition testimony may be taken at any reasonable time and location within the United States. However, the next subsection provides that

Uncompelled deposition testimony outside the United States may only be taken upon agreement of the parties or as the Board specifically directs.