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Section 809 Panel Releases Volume 1 Report and Recommendations

Client Alert | 1 min read | 02.06.18

In the FY2016 NDAA, Congress created the “Section 809 Panel” to review and streamline DoD acquisition regulations to “improv[e] the efficiency and effectiveness of the defense acquisition process and maintain defense technology advantage.” On January 31, the Panel released its Volume 1 Report, which includes recommendations on a number of topics, such as commercial buying, contract compliance and audit, defense business systems, and services and small business contracting. (The Panel’s Volume 2 and 3 Reports will be released in June 2018 and January 2019, respectively.)

   


Many of the Panel’s recommendations are deep in the legislative and regulatory weeds, but could have far reaching effects—e.g., implementing a single definition of “subcontractor” to replace the 27 different definitions currently scattered throughout various statutes and regulations; bifurcating commercial items into commercial products and commercial services; etc. The full Volume 1 Report is worth a read for those interested in (and impacted by) DoD acquisition reform.


We will also be providing further analysis on our blog in the coming weeks.

Insights

Client Alert | 4 min read | 12.30.25

Are All Baby Products Related? TTAB Says “No”

The United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB or Board) recently issued a refreshed opinion in the trademark dispute Naterra International, Inc. v. Samah Bensalem, where Naterra International, Inc. petitioned the TTAB to cancel Samah Bensalem’s registration for the mark BABIES' MAGIC TEA based on its own BABY MAGIC mark. On remand from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the TTAB reconsidered an expert’s opinion about relatedness of goods based on the concept of “umbrella branding” and found that the goods are unrelated and therefore again denied the petition for cancellation....