1. Home
  2. |Insights
  3. |When Does a Breach of Contract Violate the False Claims Act?

When Does a Breach of Contract Violate the False Claims Act?

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 12.14.10

What distinguishes an ordinary breach of contract from true fraud punishable under the False Claims Act? To learn how the Fifth Circuit drew the distinction, read this new article authored by C&M's Bob Rhoad and Jon Cone in the BNA's Federal Contracts Report.

Insights

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....