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Transportation Leaders Propose Massive Public-Private Partnership Project in Northeast Rail Corridor

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 05.27.11

On May 26, 2011, House Transportation leaders outlined a dramatic Public-Private Partnership proposal designed to bolster the development of high-speed rail in the heavily populated "Northeast Corridor." Continuing the trend towards PPP procurement on the federal, state and local levels, the proposed legislation would separate the Northeast Corridor from Amtrak, transfer it to a separate entity, and begin a competitive bidding process that would allow for a PPP to design, build, operate, maintain, and finance high-speed rail service over the next 10 years.

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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)....