CFC Faults Agency for Circumventing Protests
Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 07.20.11
In Cal. Ind. Facilities Resources, Inc. v. U.S., the Court of Federal Claims granted a protester’s request for declaratory relief regarding the illegality of the Army’s acquisition method used in a sole-source award of a contract for personnel shelter, even though the contract had been fully performed. Noting that “the action complained of is capable of repetition, yet might again evade review,” the CFC held that the agency’s practice of circumventing competitive procedures without proper justification, combined with what the court deemed an intentional effort to delay the publication of the sole-source notification until after the completion of performance, was unlawful.
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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
