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DHS Clamps Down On Lead System Integrators

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 07.23.10

On July 15, 2010, the Department of Homeland Security issued an interim rule which mirrors a DoD rule, restricting contractors from acting as lead system integrators in the acquisition of DHS major systems if they have direct financial interests in the development or construction of individual systems or elements of any system that they integrate. Effective immediately, the rule contains several exceptions and also provides detailed definitions of lead system integrators and direct financial interests.

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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....