1. Home
  2. |Insights
  3. |Follow Up: White House Issues Order under Defense Production Act as Part of COVID Response

Follow Up: White House Issues Order under Defense Production Act as Part of COVID Response

Client Alert | 1 min read | 03.23.20

In our March 19 alert, C&M summarized President Trump’s recent executive order invoking the Defense Production Act (DPA). In this follow-up, we provide three separate analyses. First, we provide a discussion of the Defense Production Act, and the implications of the executive order for U.S. businesses and the government in its efforts to reduce the impact of COVID-19. Second, we discuss the current Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regulations implementing its priorities and allocations authority prior to the executive order. And third, we discuss the manner in which the government most frequently has exercised similar authorities under the DPA pursuant to the Defense Prioritization and Allocation System (DPAS).

Insights

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....