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How the Substantial Increase in False Claims Act Penalties Affects the Litigation Landscape

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 08.01.16

On June 30, 2016, DOJ, pursuant to Congressional mandate, published an interim final rule nearly doubling the penalty range for violations under the civil False Claims Act. In a "Feature Comment” published in The Government Contractor, C&M attorneys analyze the new rule, the implications of dramatically increased penalty amounts on False Claims Act litigation, and the likely effect on federal government contractors.

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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....