Author: Ted Folkman

  • Apostille Convention Comes Into Force In China

    Yesterday the Apostille Convention came into force in China. You might think that the Apostille Convention is the simplest and most straightforward of the conventions I write about, and in some ways it is. But because China is a big country that has designated a lot of authorities competent to issue apostilles, implementation is a……

  • Case of the Day: In re Venequip

    The case of the day is In re Venequip (7th Cir. 2023). Venequip, a Venezuelan firm, had a contract with Caterpillar Sàrl, a Swiss subsidiary of Caterpiller, Inc. to sell and service Caterpillar equipment. Caterpillar Sàrl terminated the contract, and Venequip sued in Switzerland; a choice of forum clause in the contract required that all……

  • Paper of the Day: Jie Huang on Contracting Out of the Service Convention

    Friend of Letters Blogatory Jie (Jeanne) Huang (University of Sydney Faculty of Law) has posted a new paper: “Can Private Parties Contract Out of The Hague Service Convention?” The paper makes an important contribution by observing that the states that have objected to service by postal channels under the Service Convention do not always object……

  • The Law Should Be Worthy Of Our Respect

    In my first post after the Hamas terrorist attack of Oct. 7, I wrote that I didn’t feel competent to address the situation from a doctrinal point of view, because I don’t have any particular expertise in the law of armed conflict, international humanitarian law, etc. But I did give a view from the outside……

  • Case of the Day: Cawthon v. Zhousunyijie

    The case of the day is Cawthon v. Zhousunyijie (S.D.N.Y. 2023). Cawthorn claimed that Zhousunyijie had sold products via Amazon that infringed his copyrights. Cawthorn served a DMCA takedown notice on Amazon, and Zhousunyije served a counter-notice, as the statute permits. The counter-notice contained a agreement to accept service of process from Cawthon or his……