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Agencies May Not Rely On Flawed DCAA Audits

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 02.04.10

In McKissak+Delcan JV II (Jan. 13, 2010), GAO for what may be the first time rejected a DCAA determination that the offeror’s accounting system was inadequate and sustained the protest because the agency had improperly relied on DCAA’s determination in rejecting the offeror’s proposal. Adequacy of business systems is an element of an agency’s responsibility determination when evaluating proposals, and bid protests are likely the only viable forum for contractors to contest findings of system inadequacies.

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Client Alert | 2 min read | 11.14.25

Defining Claim Terms by Implication: Lexicography Lessons from Aortic Innovations LLC v. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation

Claim construction is a key stage of most patent litigations, where the court must decide the meaning of any disputed terms in the patent claims.  Generally, claim terms are given their plain and ordinary meaning except under two circumstances: (1) when the patentee acts as its own lexicographer and sets out a definition for the term; and (2) when the patentee disavows the full scope of the term either in the specification or during prosecution.  Thorner v. Sony Comput. Ent. Am. LLC, 669 F.3d 1362, 1365 (Fed. Cir. 2012).  The Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Aortic Innovations LLC v. Edwards Lifesciences Corp. highlights that patentees can act as their own lexicographers through consistent, interchangeable usage of terms across the specification, effectively defining terms by implication....