The case of the day is SiOnyx LLC v. Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. (D. Mass. 2016). SiOnyx and the President and Fellows of Harvard College brought an action against Hamamatsu Photonics, a Japanese corporation, and its American subsidiary, Hamamatsu Corp., and others. The plaintiffs effected service on Hamamatsu Corp., but they conceded that they had not directly effected service on Hamamatsu Photonics. Instead, they asserted that service on the subsidiary was effective as service on the parent, because the subsidiary was the parent’s “managing or general agent,” and thus the service was effective under Mass. R. Civ. P. 4(d)(2). It’s unclear to me, by the way, why the parties focused on Mass. R. Civ. P. 4 instead of Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(h)(1)(B), which also has a managing or general agent provision. The Massachusetts rule is incorporated by reference into the federal only if the service is to be made in the United States; but if the service is to be made in the United States, why not rely instead, or in addition, in the federal rule for domestic service? Perhaps there is some difference in how the federal cases and the Massachusetts cases define a managing or general agent, but if so, I don’t know offhand what it is. In any event, the plaintiffs also sought a preliminary injunction against the Japanese defendant.
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