1. Home
  2. |Insights
  3. |Court Reviews Decision to Stop Using SBA 8(a) Contract

Court Reviews Decision to Stop Using SBA 8(a) Contract

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 09.02.10

In K-Lak Corp. v. U.S. (Aug. 3, 2010), the Court of Federal Claims determined that it has jurisdiction to consider the claims that the Air Force had improperly decided to remove a requirement for credit reports from the 8(a) Program and instead had procured the reports through a GSA schedule in order to obtain lower prices. The court explained that, for purposes of determining its bid protest jurisdiction, the definition of "procurement" is broad and encompasses the agency's initial process of determining its needs.

Insights

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....