Many government agencies set goals for their construction projects to be awarded to disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE). The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) DBE certification program sets antidiscrimination regulations that states can implement for federal funding. The Certification Office for Business Inclusion and Diversity (COBID) is the certifying authority of DBEs (on behalf of the DOT) in Oregon ...
In Ultima Services Corporation v. U.S. Department of Agriculture et al., Case No. 2:20-CV-00041, Ultima Services Corporation filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee (Greenville Division) challenging the constitutionality of the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development Program ...
In 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14026 to increase the minimum wage for federal government contractors to $15 per hour. On November 23, 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued its final rule implementing Executive Order 14026. The rule requires any federal contractor to pay employees a minimum hourly wage of $15 and overtime wages for work beyond 40 hours per week. This wage is subject to yearly increases determined by DOL ...
Dionex Softron GmbH v. Agilent Techs., Inc., Appeal No. 21-2372 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 6, 2023) This week’s Case of the Week, the only precedential patent opinion issued by the Federal Circuit this week, focused primarily on the corroboration requirement for relevant dates of invention. The Court held there was sufficient evidence of a reduction to practice as of a given date, based primarily on corroboration of multiple witnesses, notwithstanding limited documentary evidence ...
On July 9, 2021, President Biden signed an Executive Order requesting that agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), issue rules banning employers from entering non-compete agreements with employees. Following that request, on January 5, 2023, the FTC announced it is proposing sweeping new regulations that would bar employers from entering into or enforcing non-compete agreements with employees that prevent an employee from working with a competitor ...
Mosaic Brands, Inc. v. Ridge Wallet LLC, Appeal Nos. 2022-1001, -1002 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 20, 2022) In our Case of the Week, the Federal Circuit discussed the corroboration requirement concerning the amount of evidence needed to successfully invalidate a patent as anticipated. Mosaic claimed that Ridge infringed Mosaic’s patent and trade dress for a money-clip wallet. Ridge countered that Mosaic infringed Ridge’s own patent for a money-clip wallet ...
Earthrise Serves EPA with Notice of Intent to Sue, Challenging Washington’s Forest Practices Rules Nearly 20 years ago, the Washington Forest Practices Board adopted forest practices rules intended to address water quality impacts from nonpoint sources of pollution affecting Endangered Species Act (ESA)-listed species of salmon ...
On December 19, 2022, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a proposed rule that, if enacted, will permit prime contractors to receive small-business subcontracting credit for subcontracts at any tier. The deadline for comments on this proposed rule is February 17, 2023. 13 Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) § 125 ...
On October 15, 2020, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a final rule making changes to the SBA’s 8(a) program regulations “to more clearly articulate SBA’s intent with regard to certain aspects of the 8(a) program to eliminate confusion and decrease burdens on procuring activities and 8(a) participants ...
ADASA Inc. v. Avery Dennison Corporation, Appeal No. 2022-1092 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 16, 2022) In the Federal Circuit’s only precedential opinion this week, the Court considered issues arising from infringement litigation concerning appellee ADASA’s U.S. Patent No. 9,798,967 (the ’967 patent), which is directed to systems and methods for encoding radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags. Following a $26 ...
On October 15, 2020, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a final rule making changes to the SBA’s 8(a) program regulations “to more clearly articulate SBA’s intent with regard to certain aspects of the 8(a) program to eliminate confusion and decrease burdens on procuring activities and 8(a) participants ...
Maritime operators should diligently enact and follow policies and procedures on personal leave and drinking ashore. In a recent decision from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, the court refused to dismiss claims against a tugboat operator by estates of two crewmembers killed while operating a skiff, In re Chester J. Marine, LLC, No. 20-214 (M.D. La. Nov. 10, 2022) ...
Anyone familiar with the construction industry knows that retainage – or money held back from payment until a later time – is a tool that project owners and general contractors have long used to protect against contractor nonperformance or other project risks ...
The past two years have seen significant growth in the number of mergers and acquisitions nationwide with many agriculture and farming business owners choosing to liquefy their assets and move on. At the same time, employers have had to cope with numerous challenges that have made the task of hiring and preparing I-9s for new employees more difficult. Some employers (unlawfully) stopped preparing I-9s for new hires altogether ...
On December 1, 2022, the United States Department of Defense, General Service Administration, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) issued a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement a section of the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act. The previous FAR 1 ...
Google LLC v. Hammond Development International, Inc., Appeal No. 2021-2218 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 8, 2022) In the only precedential patent decision this week, the Federal Circuit issued a decision concerning the effect of collateral estoppel in an inter partes review (IPR) based on a previous IPR decision ...
The American Bar Association (ABA) has issued its second formal opinion concerning Model Rule 4.2 in as many months. The so-called “no-contact rule” prohibits a lawyer from having contact with a represented party about the subject of the representation. The Rule does not, however, account for the “reply all” function in email communications ...
In early 2020, most businesses found themselves unexpectedly pivoting their focus to unprecedented operational, workforce, supply chain, and legal changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses have had to prioritize those issues the past few years, and may not have had much, if any, time and resources available to devote to other non-pandemic-related employment law changes ...
Treehouse Avatar LLC v. Valve Corp., Appeal No. 2022-1171 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 30, 2022) In the only precedential patent opinion issued by the Federal Circuit this week, the Court affirmed a district court’s summary judgment ruling that appellee Valve Corporation’s popular “Dota 2” and “Team Fortress 2” online videogames did not infringe Treehouse Avatar’s U.S. Patent No ...
As previously discussed, the federal district court deciding Christian Bruckner’s lawsuit to enjoin the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s set-aside of 10% (around $37 billion) of transportation funding for “small business concerns” owned and controlled by “socially and economically disadvantaged individuals” issued an order directing (1) the parties to submit supplemental briefing describing the “administrative and implementation of the DBE p
As we discussed in prior updates, on July 13, 2022, Christian Bruckner filed a lawsuit in the federal district court in Tampa, Florida, seeking to enjoin the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s set-aside of 10% (around $37 billion) of transportation funding for “small business concerns” owned and controlled by “socially and economically disadvantaged individuals ...
On October 28, 2022, the Department of Defense’s amendments to FAR 52.212-3 and FAR 52.219-1 became effective. These changes amended the Federal Acquisition Regulations to be in line with prior changes by the SBA to its mentor-protégé program, and recognize that a mentor-protégé joint venture qualifies for a socioeconomic program (8(a), HUBZone, WOSB, etc.) if one of the parties to the joint venture meets the associated requirements of the socioeconomic program ...
On May 20, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14030, Climate-Related Financial Risk, which directed the implementation of policies that would “advance consistent, clear, intelligible, comparable, and accurate disclosure of climate-related financial risk ...
American National Manufacturing Inc. v. Sleep Number Corporation, Appeal Nos. 2021-1321, -1323, -1379, -1382 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 14, 2022) In an appeal from inter partes review proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), the Federal Circuit, among other issues, addressed whether PTAB erred in allowing patent owner Sleep Number to amend challenged claims by adding changes that did not directly respond to challenges by petitioner American National ...
Due to recent global events causing high inflation, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) issued a final rule on November 17, 2022. This final rule has two primary components. First, it adopts, without change, the interim final rule published by the SBA on July 18, 2019 that increased in all industry-specific monetary size standards. Second, in an effort to account for inflation that has occurred since 2019, the final rule also increases by an additional 13 ...
