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New Grant Rules Put Recipients Under the Microscope

Client Alert | 1 min read | 01.15.14

On December 26, OMB published new guidance designed to "streamline" the Federal government's guidance on Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal grants, an effort led by the cross-agency Council on Financial Assistance Reform and OMB. The new guidance is intended in part to "strengthen oversight over Federal funds to reduce risks of waste, fraud, and abuse" and "increase the efficiency and effectiveness of Federal awards to ensure best use of the more than $500 billion expended annually," an effort which is likely to mean increased government scrutiny over institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations, and other grant recipients.


Insights

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....