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Section 508 Compliance Takes Hit from the Federal Circuit

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 06.23.11

In a case of first impression, a split Federal Circuit panel in Allied Tech. Grp., Inc. v. U.S. (June 9, 2011) held that a contractor complied with the section 508 requirements for accessibility to computer systems by the handicapped simply by certifying with self-described “minor” exceptions. The dissenting judge reasoned that Congress had provided an exception process for the agency to follow which it had failed to do in this instance.

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Client Alert | 2 min read | 11.14.25

Defining Claim Terms by Implication: Lexicography Lessons from Aortic Innovations LLC v. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation

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....