WISESEA INC. et al v. John Doe

MINUTE entry before the Honorable Sunil R. Harjani: The Court has reviewed plaintiff's motion for alternative service of process by email [12]. If the Hague Service Convention applies, then service by email is improper because the Convention prohibits service by email. Kangol LLC v. Hangzhou Chuanyue Silk Imp. & Exp. Co. 177 F.4th 793, 801 (7th Cir. 2026). However, the Hague Service Convention does not apply if a defendant's address is not known. "District courts handling Schedule A cases typically require plaintiffs to make 'reasonably diligent efforts to ascertain and verify [the] defendant's mailing address' before deeming the defendant's address unknown." Id. at 799 (quoting NBA Props., Inc. v. P'ships and Unincorporated Ass'ns Identified in Schedule "A", 549 F. Supp. 3d 790, 796 (N.D. Ill. 2021)). Plaintiff's submissions do not reflect a reasonably diligent effort to ascertain and verify the defendant's address. Instead, the declaration submitted lists that Plaintiff reviewed third-party subpoenaed materials, which did not identify a complete physical address. Accordingly, Plaintiff's motion for alternative service of process by email [12] is denied without prejudice. A status report is due on 9/29/2026. The status hearing set for 9/17/2026 is stricken. Mailed notice

MINUTE entry before the Honorable Sunil R. Harjani: Plaintiff's motion for alternative service of process [12] is entered and continued. Upon review of the complaint, the Court sua sponte raises the issue of whether the Court has specific personal jurisdiction over the defendant. Evidence "that it was possible to order the defendants' products and have them shipped to Illinois," including screenshots of the defendant's "website showing the checkout page with the infringing product, a Chicago shipping address, and the estimated total," but without evidence of a completed purchase is insufficient. Liu v. Monthly, 170 F.4th 1090, 1093 (7th Cir. 2026). By 9/3/2026, plaintiff shall file supplemental evidence showing a sale within the jurisdiction or a status report stating its basis to continue this case without such sale. Mailed notice