Request For Clarification Amounts To Discussions
Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 08.04.06
In University of Dayton Research Institute (June 15, 2006, http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/2969466.pdf), the GAO found that an agency's request for vendors to clarify certain discrepancies in their proposed rate tables constituted discussions because the proposal discrepancies were so material that the agency could not conduct a price evaluation without the clarifications and the corrections resulted in significant changes to the proposed prices. As a consequence, GAO held that the agency was required to conduct meaningful discussions with all offerors in the competitive range, which it had not done with the protester.
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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
