Supreme Court to Rule on Seal Rule
Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 06.02.16
The Supreme Court has granted review in State Farm Fire and Cas. Co. v. U.S. ex rel. Rigsby to address the applicable standard for dismissal in False Claims Act cases when whistleblowers, in violation of the statute’s requirements, make public the allegations in their complaint while it is under seal and being investigated by the government. The Court will address a split in which circuits have applied (1) a bright-line rule of dismissal, (2) a rule that considers whether the violation frustrates the congressional goals served by the seal requirement, and (3) a balancing test that focuses on whether the violation actually harms the government.
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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
