竞天人文•律师亲历记(二) | 脑力和体力的硬战——亲历国际仲裁庭审
作者:Drama R律师 时间:2022-08-31

 

三个时区的battle

北京初冬的凌晨,寒意渐浓,但华贸中心3号楼34层的大会议室依然灯火通明。电视大屏正上演着时空折叠,中国北京、瑞士苏黎世、德国汉堡、奥地利维也纳、美国德州等七个画面分别在一天的凌晨、傍晚和正午,主屏幕里定损专家S女士正接受着中国律师的盘问。连珠炮似的提问已让她如坐针毡,让她不得不一一承认自己没有得到希望的数据,未能独立进行数据核查,而七个画面后那么多审视的目光更让她焦促不安、不停干咽、不停喝水——唯一能令她略感放松的是,这场三个小时的连线已接近尾声,最后三分钟熬过去,她就解脱了。

 

但是,树欲静而风不止,一把明晃晃的匕首即将刺来。彬彬有礼的中国律师突然放慢了语速,却是慢而有力地直插入其定损报告的软肋:“Ms. S, if I may, if I may get rid of these exhibits, the terminology and, the accounting jargons in your report, and put your expert opinion in a plain way, you are issuing a blank cheque, and Mr. Z can just write down whatever number he desires and get credited, right?”

 

S女士连忙反驳道:“That's not what I've done. I've constructed a damages methodology. I've done forecasting. The inputs provided by Mr. Z provide certain points in my model for certain inputs that I then project.”

 

中国律师没有退缩:“With all the four numbers in your calculation being provided by Mr. Z, the calculation does not require a professional qualification and a college degree from a university like where you're from, right? I mean, anyone mastering primary school mathematics can do that calculation, right?”

 

面对这个带有冒犯性的问题,S女士的扑克脸肉眼可见地红了起来。画面静止了数秒后,她终于尴尬地笑了笑,恢复了镇定:“I hope not, otherwise I'd be out of a job.”

 

一起远程国际仲裁庭审

以上是一起国际仲裁的线上庭审。我们的客户是一家中国科技型制造企业(被申请人),对方则是中欧某国的技术服务商(申请人)。仲裁用英语进行,但三名仲裁员包括中方指定的仲裁员均来自德语区。全球新冠大流行使得在国际商会总部巴黎线下开庭变成了不可能的任务,于是,在外方甚为无聊地乱打了一通线上仲裁与ICC仲裁规则、《欧洲人权公约》不相兼容的抗辩后,一场初冬的线上庭审就被迅速地安排了,而小R律师此前想借开庭重回巴黎和母校校园的美梦也随之告破。为协调中国和中欧的时差,每天的庭审时间均在北京时间的下午开始,凌晨结束,对中方及其律师来说也是的脑力与体力的双重考验。

 

这起国际仲裁源自一份设备开发合同,中方委托欧方进行设备开发,但最终合同未能完全履行、设备量产开发未完成。欧方认为其已如约履行,提起仲裁申请,要求全部开发费,又进一步认为被申请人故意窃取商业秘密,一共索赔2300多万欧元。中方则认为是欧方未按照合同要求完成开发、提供设备图纸,请求仲裁庭认定欧方违约并要求返还开发费。

 

竞天公诚代表作为被申请人的中方应诉、出庭。小R律师参与了仲裁的全过程,作为代理团队成员亲历了这场“隔空对战”。

 

 

本案的证人盘问实录

证人盘问:区别于国内诉讼、仲裁中的法庭调查主要围绕书面证据质证,国际仲裁的证据听审都围绕着证人进行。证人盘问是重头戏,律师与证人直接对话,一方小心设防、用层层铠甲护住软肋,另一方步步为营、伺机发出致命一击。但由于庭前已交换过书面证人证言,攻防双方都对主要利害点了然于心,一般也做了相应准备,国际仲裁庭审中几乎不太可能出现电视剧中那种峰回路转、水落石出的戏剧化场景。但凡事都有意外,此时除了考验庭前准备,律师的庭审经验和临场发挥也至关重要。

 

 

“碟中谍”A先生

 

欧方的一位关键事实证人是中方前雇员A老先生。老先生年近花甲,庭审上已不得不带上老花镜,才能阅读自己用小五字号写了洋洋洒洒三大页的证人证言。

 

A先生的证词是在庭审的两周前才由欧方申请人提交仲裁庭的,明显准备的并不充分,而且由于老先生并不参与技术开发工作,通篇充满了主观推断和猜测。因此,虽然这份证词我们可以从程序上申请排除,给我们准备盘问的时间也很短,但我们还是决定保留,并精心准备了针对性的盘问。

 

庭审中,老爷子一上来,在主盘问环节就打了欧方申请人及其代理律师一个措手不及。A老先生在其书面证人证言中黑体加粗提到中方内部“禁止”工程师签署验收详细设计的证明,试图将项目中途停滞的责任归咎于被申请人。但中方从来没有过这样的通知,老爷子的这一信息从何而来呢?在我们一再追问下,老先生不得不在交叉盘问中承认:“这是…是…我的感觉。”

 

但仲裁庭对这个问题穷追猛打,再次询问老先生是否曾与G先生或其他中方人员了解情况,老先生毫不迟疑地坦言没有——“I can only tell you that it was my impression, my feeling, that he had the order from his boss not to sign any document.”

 

被老爷子一再打击的申请人律师,此刻终于坐不住了,直接插话:“Did you ask the boss?”

 

代理人在仲裁庭询问过程中直接发问,不仅十分不礼貌,而且有引导证人的嫌疑,并且不符合程序规则。考虑到申请人律师已不是第一次违反程序规则,仲裁庭终是忍无可忍,以强烈的措辞进行了警告,让申请人律师提前感受到了来自北海的寒风:“I am sorry, counsel, this is now the tribunal putting questions. It is not permissible you will just intervene during the time when the tribunal is putting questions to the witness. If this continues, you will have to leave the room. This has been the case before when others were questioning the witness. If there is no control, then you have to leave the room.”

 

更绝的是,老爷子还自发地为中方唯一的事实证人G先生做了信誉背书:

 

"When referring to the engineer prohibited to sign the acceptance certificate, I think you were referring to Mr. G, right?"

H律师

A先生

"Yes, he was a very correct man, a very correct engineer. There were sometimes discussions about solutions and after finding a common commitment, he signed the document of acceptance."

"What do you mean by ‘correct’?"

H律师

A先生

"Mr. G, he has always his own opinion. He asked critical questions and he had a good technical understanding."

"Can I say that, in your opinion, he is very trustworthy?"

H律师

A先生

"Mr. G? Yes."

 

 

 

A老先生的盘问结束,我们不仅推翻了他作出的对申请人有利的证言,而且成功地固定了对中方有利的多项事实,还进一步巩固了中方事实证人的可信度。一个蹩脚的敌意证人胜过十个平庸的友好证人——阿加莎•克里斯蒂在《控方证人》中的诡计,想必申请人律师应该有了痛彻的领悟。

 

 

“最佳销售员”W先生

 

申请人的技术专家证人W先生也是一位很有意思的人。他的专家证言主要是负责对比申请人提供图纸和被申请人申请的一项专利之间的相似关系,但他花了一半的篇幅讨论对双方的技术方案还可以进行何种改进,而这跟本案争议问题并无关系。对此,我们和仲裁庭都不知道这些内容的用意——不过庭审很快会揭示,申请人的律师也摸不着头脑。

 

在庭审的第一天,申请人的CEO Z先生作为事实证人,装作很漫不经心地提到,申请人与W先生曾经有过一些专利技术合作。对此,我们岂能轻易放过,立刻去搜罗W先生的专利申请记录,终于查到一份由W先生和申请人的控股股东共同申请的PCT专利,而授权日期居然就在庭审前的一个月。

 

国际仲裁中由当事人聘请的专家证人,虽然其实在某种程度上都是雇佣军(“hired guns”),但原则上来说仍必须具有独立性,即应当独立于当事人,对仲裁庭负责,能够向仲裁庭提供客观的专业知识和意见。这通常要求其不能与指定方具有专家证人聘用以外的商业关系,以免造成利益冲突,影响其客观、公正地提供意见。W先生和申请人的这层合作关系,已经损害了他的独立性。不仅如此,W先生在其专家报告中并没有披露这层关系,更是明显的不诚信行为。

 

但是这份PCT专利毕竟是新证据,而仲裁程序已经不允许提交新证据。这种情况下,为了避免新证据被排除,并保留相关交叉盘问的意外性,我们结合国际仲裁中的证据规则,决定不提出PCT专利文件,而是通过提到相关专利申请号、专利申请等细节进行设问,迫使W先生不得不承认与申请人的合作关系。于是有了以下对话:

 

"To refresh your memory, do you have recollection that you applied for a PCT patent, PCT ********, titled "*****", filed on **** 2019, and that patent was granted on 6 October this year."

H律师

W先生

"Yes, this is publicly known. And every – every law firm, everybody can look into that."

"And do you own that invention alone?"

H律师

W先生

"I am not the sole inventor of this invention. And I am the co-register of this patent family. I'm the co-applicant. For this share of co-applicant, there is a licence agreement, with [Claimant]. But this does not relate to this -- this does not relate to this -- this is not subject matter of the witness statement."

"Okay. Mr. W, do you understand that you have a paramount duty to the tribunal about your statement made before this tribunal? Why did not you disclose your connection with [Claimant]?"

H律师

A先生

"I declared that I'm independent. Well, I-- this one patent registration is something I have not to put on file here. This is public. Any party, anybody across the globe can look into that. And this does not diminish my expert witness statement."

"Yes. And you don't think you have a duty to disclose that connection with [Claimant] in your witness statement?"

H律师

 

仲裁庭善意地中断了这一串提问:“Mr. H, I think we got your point. I think we got your point. I suggest you move on.”

 

W先生的不独立性在庭审也有直接体现。在申请人主盘问环节,申请人律师让W先生对比两张图纸是否相似,但是申请人放错了其中一张。W先生一开始注意到了两张图纸的方案不同,认为图纸方案不同,但申请人律师两次“指鹿为马”之下,居然就屈服了。我们在交叉盘问中,首先邀请仲裁庭审阅了庭审笔录,然后再次邀请W先生进行比对。在无可争议的图纸面前,W先生不得不再次改口了。两个180度转身后,他又回到了原点,但W先生的可信度已经荡然无存了。

 

由于交叉盘问时间有限,我们对于W先生长篇累牍讨论的可能改进,认为没有关联性,并没有进行盘问。但是仲裁庭成员也都带有相同的困惑,在仲裁庭询问环节纷纷追问这些讨论的目的何在:“您在证人证言中提到这句话,是说被申请人申请的的专利和申请人提供的图纸相同,是吗?”“您提到这句话的意思是说,被申请人申请专利的创新性不够吗?

 

“不对,不对,你们说的都不对。”W先生不慌不忙否定道,“我是一个专(jiao)业(ao)的发明家,我考虑的主要就是如何使用新的方法来改善现有图纸或专利问题的。”

 

也许是发明家的脑回路跟我们法律人的脑回路有点不同吧,仲裁庭问了十分钟后,鸣金收兵了。

 

突然,H律师重重拍了自己的脑门——联想到之前W先生向申请人推销其发明的专利未获申请人的认可,他这不是在通过专家报告做销售吗?终于搞清楚了,原来这份证人证言还是W先生的pitchbook啊!

 

由于交叉盘问已经结束,我们最终在结案陈词中指出了这一关联:

 

“Moreover, as you see from his witness statement, how hard working he was to show his technical competence and innovation ability. His page-after-page discussion on potential improvements that may be made to the solutions, are not made to the esteemed members of the tribunal for a better understanding of the issues. Instead, they are intended to the Claimant only, so as to solicit business opportunities from his instructing party.


Frankly speaking, I cannot find a better example how a witness statement, or expert report, could be corrupted by a commercial motivation.”

 

至此,最后一根稻草终于压上了W先生的驼峰。

 

结案陈词

国际仲裁庭审并不必然存在总结发言。根据庭前达成的安排,双方将在庭后提交书面补充陈述,因此,我们并未考虑作结案陈词。但是,在庭审的最后一天(更准确地说,最后一夜)开始时,申请人大概是一路溃败下来希望逆风翻盘,坚持要求仲裁庭准许双方各自进行15-30分钟的结案陈词。

 

行啊,你要战,我便战!

 

在申请人总结陈词后,H律师先是花了二十分钟回顾、总结了庭审中的证词,将申请人为了其2300万欧元的索赔拼凑的故事,如蛛网一样轻轻抹去了。最后,H律师小宇宙熊熊燃烧,来了一段文采斐然的总结:

 

“The tribunal may recall that, in a submission in July, the Respondent cautioned that quantum expert is not a magician to turn speculation into facts. And you cannot build a house on sands, even with the blessing of a quantum expert. The last exterior wall of that house had collapsed yesterday.

 

And we have to ask: if the patents are so valuable, it is really puzzling to us why claimant didn't request for a transfer of these patent rights back to claimant. There are just too many questions not answered. But I would not bother this tribunal on these questions, so long as they are not issues for you to discharge your mandate.

 

I would conclude my case with, once again, a metaphor here: four years ago, a husband entering into a marriage which looked like a perfect match, gave a nice Volkswagen sedan to his wife, telling her ‘it is your property now’. After that, the union went into an irreversible end and a bitter divorce because the husband didn't keep his words; he is now demanding his ex-wife to return some beautiful Porsh sports cars he provided to the wife for ‘usage’. That is not going to happen.”

 

回到隔壁的休息室,客户C先生终于放下他在镜头前的沉稳,开心地鼓起了掌。一屋子人都如释重负——终于可以享受周末了!!!

 

后记

国际仲裁的庭审是一场脑力与体力的硬战。庭审过程中的各个环节都是庭审前全面准备、综合考量的呈现。如何在开庭陈述环节进行案情及争议点的初步阐释,如何在证人盘问过程中设计盘问问题以降低对方证人的可信度,如何使己方证人在盘问过程中能够最大程度的产生积极影响,如何在总结陈词中快速捕捉庭审中的细节完善强化己方观点,以上这些都离不开日常点滴的积累。

 

数个月后,仲裁庭作出裁决,驳回了申请人几乎全部仲裁请求,仅支持了其30多万欧元未付合同开发费,这起案件终于画上了圆满的句号。

 

最后,特别感谢那些陪我们经历这一场场硬战的战友和家人们。

 

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