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.”
Insights
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
