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E-Verify -- Immigration Enforcement Comes to Federal Contracting

Client Alert | 1 min read | 11.14.08

On November 14, 2008, the FAR Council issued a new rule and contract clause, effective January 15, 2009, requiring most federal contractors and subcontractors to use the Department of Homeland Security's E-Verify system to verify the employment eligibility of all new hires in the United States and all employees working in the United States on federal contracts and subcontracts. The contract clause will apply to all new federal contracts for more than $100,000 (except for very limited contracts for commercially available off-the-shelf items sold in substantial quantities in the commercial marketplace) and subcontracts for services or construction in excess of $3000 and includes a specific provision requiring referral for potential suspension or debarment for failure to comply with the rules governing the E-Verify program.

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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....