1. Home
  2. |Insights
  3. |Japan (and Slovenia) Become "Qualifying Countries"

Japan (and Slovenia) Become "Qualifying Countries"

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 08.05.16

To implement recently executed reciprocal defense procurement agreements with Japan and Slovenia, DoD on August 2 issued a final rule adding both countries to the list of 23 other “qualifying countries.” This designation will open DoD procurements to products from these countries, allow U.S. defense contractors to incorporate manufactured components from those countries into their end products as if they were U.S. manufactured components, and obviate specialty metal restrictions regarding those countries and their end products and components.

Contacts

Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25

Design Patent Application Drawings & Prosecution History Must Be Clear (Merely Translucent Won’t Suffice!)

Design patents offer protection for the ornamental appearance of a product, focusing on aspects like its shape and surface decoration, as opposed to the functional aspects protected by utility patents. The scope of a design patent is defined by the drawings and any descriptive language within the patent itself. Recent decisions by the Federal Circuit emphasize the need for clarity in the prosecution history of a design patent in order to preserve desired scope to preserve intentional narrowing (and to avoid unintentional sacrifice of desired claim scope)....