New HIPAA Privacy Rule Guidance
Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 12.04.02
The Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has released a 100+ page guidance document on the HIPAA Privacy Rule. The guidance document discusses a broad array of topics in a Q&A format. OCR is the agency responsible for enforcing the Privacy Rule, so this guidance provides useful insight about the government's approach to some of the Privacy Rule's "hot topics". For example, OCR states that physicians with hospital staff privileges need not enter into business associate contracts with the hospital, because joint physician-hospital activities fall under the definition of "organized health care arrangement".
Insights
Client Alert | 2 min read | 11.14.25
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.
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.14.25
Microplastics Update: Regulatory and Litigation Developments in 2025
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.13.25
