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DOD Revises IP Commercial Item Rules

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 09.21.11

On September 20, 2011, DOD issued a final rule amending DFARS Part 227 and the associated clauses to eliminate the presumption of development at private expense for commercial items (other than commercially available off-the-shelf items) for major systems or subsystems. However, the implementation of this rule introduces great uncertainty as to the government’s rights to commercial item technical data and commercial computer software when there has been even a minimal government investment, particularly as it relates to the applicability of commercial licenses and marking requirements.


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Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25

Design Patent Application Drawings & Prosecution History Must Be Clear (Merely Translucent Won’t Suffice!)

Design patents offer protection for the ornamental appearance of a product, focusing on aspects like its shape and surface decoration, as opposed to the functional aspects protected by utility patents. The scope of a design patent is defined by the drawings and any descriptive language within the patent itself. Recent decisions by the Federal Circuit emphasize the need for clarity in the prosecution history of a design patent in order to preserve desired scope to preserve intentional narrowing (and to avoid unintentional sacrifice of desired claim scope)....