The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit heard Chinese electric bus maker BYD Co.’s bid on Tuesday to revive its defamation lawsuit against Vice Media over an April 2020 article that said the firm was “using forced Uighur labor in its supply chain.”

The argument, pressed by BYD’s attorneys from the Harder firm in California, claimed that current pleading standards kept meritorious defamation claims out of court. And it sought a more lenient path for public officials who sue to recover damages against members of the media.