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Mitigation Plan Doesn't Always Heal OCI

Client Alert | 1 min read | 01.18.06

In Alion Science & Technology Corp. (Jan. 9, 2006, http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/297342.pdf), GAO found an impaired objectivity organizational conflict of interest in the award of a contract to provide electromagnetic spectrum engineering services to a manufacturer of electromagnetic spectrum-dependent products, because performance of the contract would involve many different kinds of subjective judgments that might affect the sale or use of such products of the contractor, its competitors, or its customers. A mitigation plan based upon assignment of all work involving such judgments to a subcontractor was rejected because it was based upon erroneous, understated assessments of the conflict potential presented by multiple tasks in the solicitation, and because the agency had not considered the impact on the technical evaluation scoring of a shift of so much of the work from the prime contractor to the subcontractor.

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Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.26.25

From ‘Second’ to ‘First:’ Federal Circuit Tackles Obvious Claim Errors

Patent claims must be clear and definite, as they set the boundaries of the patentee’s rights. Occasionally, however, claim language contains errors, such as typographical mistakes or incorrect numbering. Courts possess very limited authority to correct such errors. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has emphasized that judicial correction is appropriate only in rare circumstances, where (1) the error is evident from the face of the patent, and (2) the proposed correction is the sole reasonable interpretation in view of the claim language, specification, and prosecution history. See Group One, Ltd. v. Hallmark Cards, Inc., 407 F.3d 1297, 1303 (Fed. Cir. 2005) and Novo Indus., L.P. v. Micro Molds Corp., 350 F.3d 1348, 1357 (Fed. Cir. 2003)....

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