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Federal Circuit Sweeps Away DOJ's Defenses in Corrective Action Suits

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 08.30.12

In Sys. Application & Techs., Inc. v. U.S. (Aug. 24, 2012), the Federal Circuit swept away a litany of preliminary defenses raised by DOJ in multiple cases challenging agency procurement corrective actions in the Court of Federal Claims, holding first and foremost that the CFC possesses jurisdiction over such disputes under the broad grant in 28 U.S.C. § 1491(b)(1). The Federal Circuit also held that contractors have standing to challenge proposed corrective actions, particularly when their pricing has been revealed, and that such disputes are ripe for adjudication when the agency announces the action, not after the agency has fully implemented it.

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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....