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D.C. Circuit Overturns Decision To Release Manufacturing Data Under FOIA

Client Alert | 1 min read | 04.05.10

In United Technologies Corp. v. DoD, the DC Circuit set aside a DCMA decision to release under FOIA certain Corrective Action Requests (CARs) from DCMA regarding alleged problems with Sikorsky and Pratt & Whitney manufacturing processes. Although the court found that the competitive harm that could result from their competitors using that information to discredit Sikorsky and Pratt & Whitney in the marketplace is not the type of harm that Exemption 4 was designed to protect, the court nonetheless found that the information was not releasable because DoD had not rebutted Sikorsky and Pratt & Whitney's argument that the CARs disclosed proprietary information regarding their manufacturing processes that would allow their competitors to improve their own manufacturing and quality control systems to the competitive detriment of Sikorsky and Pratt & Whitney.

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Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.06.25

Executive Branch Focus on Federally Funded Inventions

In recent months the executive branch has indicated a willingness to assert control over intellectual property funded by federal research dollars in novel ways. This could potentially include leveraging its march-in rights under the Bayh-Dole Act....