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Proposed Consolidation of Civilian Suspension and Debarment Offices

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 02.12.13

On February 7, Chairman Issa of the House Oversight Committee released a discussion draft of legislation that would consolidate more than forty civilian agency suspension and debarment offices and functions into one, centralized "Board of Civilian Suspension and Debarment" in GSA on October 1, 2014. The draft Stop Unworthy Spending Act, or SUSPEND Act, would also permit the newly formed board to enter into agreements to perform suspension and debarment activities for entities other than civilian agencies; consolidate the procurement and non-procurement regulations; require heightened public availability to proceedings and administrative agreements; and provide an expedited process for appropriate matters.


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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)....