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For Iraq War Items Sole Source Award, COFC Grants Limited Injunctive Relief Despite OCI And CICA Violations

Client Alert | 1 min read | 05.21.04

In Filtration Dev. Co. LLC v. U.S. (April 27, 2004), the Court of Federal Claims found (1) that a sole source award for filtration kits (to protect helicopters in Iraq from sand damage) that included a directed subcontract violated organizational conflict of interest (OCI) prohibitions because, even though it had performed no work on that system, the subcontractor held a Systems Engineering and Technical Assistance (SETA) contract for the system, and (2) that the urgent and compelling circumstances justification and approval (J&A) for the sole source action, despite explicitly authorizing procurement of a larger number of kits than already ordered by the prime from the designated subcontractor, was limited by the scope of the current emergency to the smaller order already placed. The court granted injunctive relief, but only to preclude further contracts or orders without a new J&A, and declined to enjoin the government from including the directed subcontractor in future competitions or contracting actions because, inter alia, the OCI could be waived.

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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....

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