Help Wanted: Bounty Hunters
Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 03.22.10
In a memorandum dated March 10, 2010, President Obama directed the heads of all executive departments and agencies to expand their use of recovery audits, now called “Payment Recapture Audits,” in order to identify and reclaim from contractors the funds associated with improper payments (e.g., duplicate payments, payments for services not rendered, overpayments, and payments to fictitious vendors) and has also directed OMB to develop guidance within 90 days for carrying out the requirements of the memorandum. He points approvingly to use of professional and specialized auditors whose compensation is tied to their findings of such overpayments.
Insights
Client Alert | 2 min read | 11.14.25
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.
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.14.25
Microplastics Update: Regulatory and Litigation Developments in 2025
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.13.25
