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Tanker Award Tanked

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 06.19.08

Yesterday, GAO overturned the Air Force’s award of the contract to Northrop Grumman/EADS (http://www.gao.gov/press/boeingstmt.pdf) for aerial refueling tankers, identifying seven distinct errors in the competition, including flaws in the technical and cost evaluations (the Air Force incorrectly determined that NG was the low cost offeror) and in the discussions. GAO recommended that the Air Force reopen discussions and request new proposals.

Insights

Client Alert | 2 min read | 11.14.25

Defining Claim Terms by Implication: Lexicography Lessons from Aortic Innovations LLC v. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation

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....