Motorola Solutions, Inc. v Hytera Communications Corporation Ltd (Second Adjournment)

The case involved Motorola Solutions, Inc. as the Applicant and Hytera Communications Corporation Ltd as the Respondents. The dispute centered around the Respondents’ second application to adjourn the trial, which was proposed to be held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The case was before the Federal Court of Australia, which had to determine the application's validity.

The primary legal issues the court had to decide were whether the application to adjourn was premature and whether the proposed adjournment was justified given the circumstances. The Respondents argued that their six witnesses, who were located in China, could not give evidence via video link due to Chinese law. The Applicant suggested that the witnesses should travel to Macau to give their evidence. However, the Respondents contended that the pandemic's heightened travel risks, isolation requirements, and the potential inability or unwillingness of their witnesses to travel warranted an adjournment.

The court found that the application to adjourn was premature, as the Respondents had not demonstrated that their witnesses would be unable to attend the trial virtually. The court noted that the Respondents had not made any concrete arrangements for their witnesses to travel to Macau, and the potential issues regarding Chinese law had not been definitively resolved. The court also observed that the Respondents' concerns about the pandemic and travel risks did not necessarily preclude the witnesses from participating in the trial virtually. Consequently, the court dismissed the Respondents’ application to vacate the hearing, ordered the Respondents to pay the Applicant’s costs, and scheduled a case management meeting for 14 July 2020.