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Widening a Split, Sixth Circuit Says FCA Amendments Apply to Pending Cases, Not Claims

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 11.06.12

When Congress amended the False Claims Act in 2009, it provided that the change broadening the liability provision for false statements should apply retroactively to all "claims" under the FCA that were pending on or after June 7, 2008. In U.S. ex rel. Sanders v. Allison Engine Co. (6th Cir. Nov. 2, 2012), the Sixth Circuit declined to follow the Ninth and Eleventh Circuits' holdings that this amendment applies only to requests or demands for money or property that were pending as of June 7, 2008, and, instead, followed the Second and Seventh in finding that this amendment applies to any "civil action or case" that was pending then.

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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)....