Sequestration Found Valid Basis for Canceling Solicitation
Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 09.23.13
In Vinculum Solutions, Inc. (Aug. 5, 2013), GAO, relying on the "broad discretion" afforded to agencies to define their needs and manage their procurements, concluded that the IRS's need to reduce costs due to the ongoing budget sequestration was a valid basis for canceling a solicitation. This appears to be the first decision in which GAO has considered the impacts of sequestration on the procurement process, and it may green-light similar actions in the months ahead for agencies coping with the ongoing sequester and the uncertainties of the FY14 appropriations process.
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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
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