1. Home
  2. |Insights
  3. |The Top FCA Developments of 2022

The Top FCA Developments of 2022

Client Alert | 1 min read | 03.08.23

2022 was a busy year for the False Claims Act.  While recoveries were down, new cases reached a record mark, and settlements addressed multiple important and developing enforcement areas, from cybersecurity to small business fraud, bid rigging, Trade Agreements Act compliance, pandemic fraud, and more.  Of particular note, the U.S. Supreme Court held argument concerning the Government’s authority to dismiss qui tam actions, and it will soon hear consolidated cases as to the critical element of scienter.  And circuit courts issued key decisions involving pleading standards and merits issues.  These highlights and more are discussed by C&M attorneys in a “Feature Comment” published in The Government Contractor. 

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)....