1. Home
  2. |Insights
  3. |GAO Slams VA for Reneging on Its Corrective Action Promise

GAO Slams VA for Reneging on Its Corrective Action Promise

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 08.24.15

In SCB Solutions, Inc.—Recon. (Aug. 12, 2015), GAO roasted the Veterans Administration when it reneged on its promise to cancel the award as a part of its corrective action and, instead, after the protest had been dismissed as moot at VA's request, accelerated performance and received full delivery, thereby thwarting the protest process. GAO granted reconsideration of its dismissal decision and sustained the protest on the basis that the solicitation contained a latent defect and awarded bid preparation and protest costs.


Contacts

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....