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.
Contacts
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
