No Past Performance = Neutral, Not Negative
Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 03.11.05
In The MIL Corp. (Dec. 30, 2004), GAO sustained a challenge to the agency's elimination of its proposal, finding that the agency improperly penalized the protester under the past performance factor for a lack of relevant experience, when the FAR requires no worse than a neutral rating in such circumstances. GAO also determined that the agency failed to give meaningful consideration to proposed prices, and it rejected the agency's argument that it was unnecessary in the context of a contract where the selected vendors will have to compete in the future for individual task orders.
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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
