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Federal Circuit Opens Split Over Paralegal Reimbursement Under EAJA

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 01.12.07

In a 2-1 decision which rejected a decision of another circuit, Judges Dyk and Rader in Richlin Security Serv. Co. v. Chertoff (Fed. Cir. Dec. 26, 2006) held that, under the Equal Access to Justice Act, prevailing parties can only recover the actual cost to the parties' law firms of paralegal services, not the market rates billed by the firms. Judge Plager in dissent found an analogous Supreme Court precedent convincing and argued that a prior Federal Circuit decision had already held to the contrary, requiring en banc reconsideration.

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Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.26.25

From ‘Second’ to ‘First:’ Federal Circuit Tackles Obvious Claim Errors

Patent claims must be clear and definite, as they set the boundaries of the patentee’s rights. Occasionally, however, claim language contains errors, such as typographical mistakes or incorrect numbering. Courts possess very limited authority to correct such errors. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has emphasized that judicial correction is appropriate only in rare circumstances, where (1) the error is evident from the face of the patent, and (2) the proposed correction is the sole reasonable interpretation in view of the claim language, specification, and prosecution history. See Group One, Ltd. v. Hallmark Cards, Inc., 407 F.3d 1297, 1303 (Fed. Cir. 2005) and Novo Indus., L.P. v. Micro Molds Corp., 350 F.3d 1348, 1357 (Fed. Cir. 2003)....