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New FAR Requirement Forces Contractors to Examine Confidentiality Agreements

Client Alert | 1 min read | 03.03.16

On March 22, the comment period is set to close on a new rule proposed by the FAR Council that will prohibit federal dollars from going to companies that require employees or subcontractors to sign restrictive confidentiality agreements that could limit the ability of employees to report suspected fraud and abuse to the government. In a "Feature Comment" published in The Government Contractor, C&M attorneys explore the risks contractors face in light of the rule, which comes at a time of increased scrutiny from government agencies on the use of internal confidentiality agreements.

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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)....