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T4D Slam Dunked To T4C When Contractor Misled

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 07.30.04

In Divecon Services, LP, the GSBCA overturned the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s termination for default of a contract to charter a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), despite the ROV’s failure to operate properly or obtain the ultimately desired data. The board reasoned that NOAA had waived any contract completion date by (1) encouraging the contractor right up to the day of termination (the originally specified contract completion date) to incur substantial costs for ROV repair work necessary for continued contract performance, (2) failing to set a new completion date, and (3) leading the contractor during last minute negotiations to believe that agreement on a contract extension was a “slam dunk.”

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Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25

Design Patent Application Drawings & Prosecution History Must Be Clear (Merely Translucent Won’t Suffice!)

Design patents offer protection for the ornamental appearance of a product, focusing on aspects like its shape and surface decoration, as opposed to the functional aspects protected by utility patents. The scope of a design patent is defined by the drawings and any descriptive language within the patent itself. Recent decisions by the Federal Circuit emphasize the need for clarity in the prosecution history of a design patent in order to preserve desired scope to preserve intentional narrowing (and to avoid unintentional sacrifice of desired claim scope)....