Sockeye Media, LLC v. Nhi

Filing 25

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO AUTHORIZE ALTERNATE FORM OF SERVICE by Magistrate Judge Paul Singh Grewal granting 14 . (psglc1S, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 12/1/2015)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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SOCKEYE MEDIA, LLC, et al.,
Plaintiffs,

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v.

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LINH NHI,

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO
AUTHORIZE ALTERNATE FORM OF
SERVICE
(Re: Docket No. 14)

Defendant.

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United States District Court
Northern District of California

Case No. 5:15-cv-02244-PSG

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Plaintiff Sockeye Media, LLC, moves to authorize an alternate form of service, namely
email, on Defendant Linh Nhi.1 Nhi resides in Vietnam.2

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Sockeye produces and uploads videos to YouTube, and alleges that Nhi uploaded copies of

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Sockeye’s videos without permission and infringed on Sockeye’s copyrights.3 Sockeye asked

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YouTube to take down Nhi’s uploads, YouTube notified Nhi by email and a YouTube

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communication platform, Nhi contested the takedown, and this lawsuit was born.4 Following

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YouTube’s Terms of Service, Nhi provided Sockeye his physical address and email address.5

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Sockeye tried multiple times to serve Nhi at the address he provided, but the address was not

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See Docket No. 14; Docket No. 24 at 2.

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See Docket No. 14; Docket No. 24 at 2.

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See Docket No. 1 at ¶ 11.

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See Docket No. 24 at 2.

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See id.

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Case No. 5:15-cv-02244-PSG
ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO AUTHORIZE ALTERNATE FORM OF SERVICE

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valid.6 Sockeye now asks the court to authorize service by email on Nhi.
Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(f)(3) permits service on an individual in a foreign country “by other

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means not prohibited by international agreement, as the court orders.” In Rio Properties, Inc. v.

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Rio Int’l Interlink, the Ninth Circuit held that this may encompass service by email, because “the

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Constitution does not require any particular means of service of process, only that the method

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selected be reasonably calculated to provide notice and an opportunity to respond. In proper

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circumstances, this broad constitutional principle unshackles the federal courts from anachronistic

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methods of service and permits them entry into the technological renaissance.”7
The court accordingly GRANTS Sockeye’s motion, because service by email is reasonably

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calculated to provide Nhi both notice of Sockeye’s complaint and an opportunity to respond, and

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United States District Court
Northern District of California

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is not prohibited by international agreement. First, the physical address Nhi provided Sockeye is

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invalid, resulting in the destruction of the package of documents that Sockeye attempted to serve

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by FedEx and UPS.8 While it is not certain that service by email will fare any better, there is no

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indication yet that Nhi’s email address is invalid.9 Second, Vietnam has not signed or ratified the

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Hague Convention, and therefore cannot and has not exercised any rights under the Convention to

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object to service by email.10

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SO ORDERED.

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Dated: December 1, 2015
_________________________________
PAUL S. GREWAL
United States Magistrate Judge

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See Docket No. 14 at 1-2; Docket No. 24 at 2.

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284 F.3d 1007, 1017 (9th Cir. 2002).

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See Docket No. 14 at 1.

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See id. at 1-2 (stating that Sockeye emailed Nhi, with no allegation that the email bounced).

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See Convention of 15 November 1965 on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial
Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters, Feb. 11, 1969, available at
http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=conventions.status&cid=17.
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Case No. 5:15-cv-02244-PSG
ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO AUTHORIZE ALTERNATE FORM OF SERVICE