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DoD IG Signals Shift in FOIA Policy

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 08.18.16

In June, the DoD IG announced that, "[i]n an effort to create greater transparency, DoD OIG will proactively redact and post reports and select administrative investigations," rather than requiring FOIA requests for them. Along with the recent amendments to FOIA, which require agencies to "make available for public inspection in an electronic format" records "that have been requested three or more times," the IG's decision is likely to increase the amount of information available to the public regarding IG reports, which in the past have included investigations of major defense programs.

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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....