Award Fee Determination Must Be Made By Designated Official
Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 01.29.07
As part of the long-running saga of the operation of the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant in Colorado, the Court of Federal Claims in The Boeing Co. v. United States. (Jan. 17, 2007) has held the Department of Energy in breach because, after the initiation of an investigation of the contractor, the Secretary's office mandated lower award fees than DOE's Rocky Flats Manager had independently determined. Restoring the independent determinations, the court found that, when the contract specifies the individual who is to make the determination (here the Manager), his superiors may not override that determination without breaching the contract.
Insights
Client Alert | 2 min read | 11.14.25
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.
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.14.25
Microplastics Update: Regulatory and Litigation Developments in 2025
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.13.25
