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New Grant Rules Put Recipients Under the Microscope

Client Alert | 1 min read | 01.15.14

On December 26, OMB published new guidance designed to "streamline" the Federal government's guidance on Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal grants, an effort led by the cross-agency Council on Financial Assistance Reform and OMB. The new guidance is intended in part to "strengthen oversight over Federal funds to reduce risks of waste, fraud, and abuse" and "increase the efficiency and effectiveness of Federal awards to ensure best use of the more than $500 billion expended annually," an effort which is likely to mean increased government scrutiny over institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations, and other grant recipients.


Insights

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)....