Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-5_09-cv-00882/USCOURTS-cand-5_09-cv-00882-16/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 840
Nature of Suit: Trademark
Cause of Action: 15:1051 Trademark Infringement

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United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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NOT FOR CITATION

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

SAN JOSE DIVISION

BEIJING TONG REN TANG (USA) CORP.,

Plaintiff,

 v.

TRT USA CORPORATION, GUANGMING

SUN aka GEORGE SUN, MEI XU, PENGTAO

ZHANG aka JOHN ZHANG,

Defendants. /

TRT USA CORPORATION, GUANGMING

SUN, MEI XU, and PENGTAO ZHANG,

Counterclaimants,

 v.

BEIJING TONG REN TANG (USA) CORP.

and CHUANLI ZHOU,

Counterdefendants. /

No. C09-00882 RMW (HRL)

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND

DENYING IN PART PLAINTIFF’S

MOTION TO COMPEL

[Re: Docket No. 113]

Plaintiff Beijing Tong Ren Tang (USA) Corp. (“Beijing TRT”) moves for an order

compelling (1) defendant Sun to answer certain deposition questions and (2) defendants to

produce documents responsive to Beijing TRT’s requests for production. Defendants oppose

the motion. Upon consideration of the moving and responding papers, as well as the arguments

of counsel, this court grants the motion in part and denies it in part as follows:

*E-FILED 06-10-2010*

Case 5:09-cv-00882-RMW Document 167 Filed 06/10/10 Page 1 of 4
United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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A. Defendant Sun’s Deposition

Plaintiff will be given leeway to inquire about the driving school run by Sun and his

wife, defendant Mei Xu. See FED. R. CIV. P. 26(b)(1). Accordingly, Sun shall answer questions

about the school’s annual revenue from 2004 to the present.

Sun shall also identify any investors in TRT USA Corporation (“TRT USA”) (including

those who may have loaned defendants money for the business), as well as any individuals or

entities who have a current financial interest in the company. Fair game for discovery includes

information from the time period 2005 (when it is alleged that shares were issued) and 2006

(when it is alleged that those shares were rescinded in connection with the reorganization of

TRT USA). To safeguard nonparty privacy rights, the information shall not be disclosed to

anyone other than the parties and their counsel and shall be used solely for the purpose of

prosecuting, defending or settling this litigation. Plaintiff’s belated request (made for the first

time in its reply brief) to conduct additional depositions of other individuals or entities at this

stage of the litigation is denied.

B. Plaintiff’s Requests for Production

Although there was some suggestion that defendants may have balked at producing

certain financial information as to TRT USA, there now appears to be no dispute that such

information is appropriate discovery. At oral argument, defendants indicated that they believed

their production of such documents may be complete. Nevertheless, they agree to produce any

responsive information that has not yet been produced. Accordingly, to the extent they have not

already done so, defendants shall complete their production of financial information called for

by plaintiff’s requests within ten days from the date of this order. The production shall include

the categories of documents identified by plaintiff in its motion and further clarified at the

motion hearing, namely:

(1) balance sheets from January through May 2005;

(2) financial documents from 2004, including annual balance sheets and monthly

income statements;

Case 5:09-cv-00882-RMW Document 167 Filed 06/10/10 Page 2 of 4
United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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(3) documents responsive to Request for Production No. 52, including records

detailing how, when and in what amounts defendants accounted for alleged

shares issued to Zhou;

(4) inventory and sales for the accused products, including data after the 2009

termination of the parties’ agreement (according to plaintiff, such information

from 2005, January to September 2006, April 2007, April 2008 and April 2009

has not yet been produced); and

(5) non-privileged information showing TRT USA’s budgets and projections re

sales, revenues, costs and expenses from defendants’ QuickBooks database. 

Defendants need not, however, produce the entire QuickBooks database.

Additionally, and consistent with this court’s ruling as to the scope of Sun’s deposition,

defendants shall also produce non-privileged documents evidencing the amount of time Sun

spent working at the driving school, as well as documents sufficient to show the school’s annual

revenue and profitability from 2004 to the present. Such documents shall be produced within

ten days from the date of this order.

To the extent defendants contend that any responsive information legitimately is

privileged or otherwise protected from discovery, such information shall be appropriately

identified on a privilege log to be served within ten days from the date of this order. See FED.

R. CIV. P. 26(b)(5).

Plaintiff’s request for sanctions, made for the first time in its reply brief, is denied.

SO ORDERED.

Dated:

 

HOWARD R. LLOYD

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

June 10, 2010

Case 5:09-cv-00882-RMW Document 167 Filed 06/10/10 Page 3 of 4
United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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5:09-cv-00882-RMW Notice has been electronically mailed to:

J. James Li lij@gtlaw.com, henleyr@gtlaw.com, perezdj@gtlaw.com

Jingming James Cai jcai@sacattorneys.com, dsims@sacattorneys.com,

janehzhang@yahoo.com, jvanee@sacattorneys.com

Suzan Yee syee@tsaochow.com, anguyen@tsaochow.com, bli@tsaochow.com

Teddy Tsao-Wu ttsaowu@tsaochow.com

William James Taylor wtaylor@tsaochow.com, william.taylor@sbcglobal.net

Counsel are responsible for distributing copies of this document to co-counsel who have not

registered for e-filing under the court’s CM/ECF program.

Case 5:09-cv-00882-RMW Document 167 Filed 06/10/10 Page 4 of 4