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DoD Meets Contractors Half-Way at Industry Information Day

Client Alert | 1 min read | 06.28.17

On June 23, the Department of Defense hosted its highly anticipated Industry Information Day to respond to feedback received from the contracting community regarding last year’s finalization of DFARS 252.204-7012, Safeguarding Covered Defense Information and Cyber Incident Reporting. Top of mind for many in attendance was the looming end-of-year deadline to implement NIST SP 800-171, including its requirements regarding multifactor authentication. By the end of the session, however, DoD representatives repeatedly stated that contractors may use system security plans (SSPs) and plans of action and milestones (POAMs) to document their anticipated implementation of the required controls and thus comply with the Clause – even if the actual implementation of those controls extends beyond 2017. A revised set of FAQs is expected next month, which should provide additional details regarding this new guidance.

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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....