Claim Precluded When Not Raised in Earlier Litigation
Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 10.31.12
In Bowers Inv. Co. v. U.S. (Oct. 15, 2012), the Federal Circuit held that a contractor, by not raising it in a previously litigated claim, was foreclosed from arguing an alternative theory for relief separately certified but arising out of the same transaction. The court's broad language that there is a "presumption that all claims arising from the same contract should be brought together" could be seized upon by the government when contractors file multiple claims under a single contract.
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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
