The Everyday Dictionary of Law

A judgment that may be granted upon a party's motion when the pleadings, discovery and declarations show that there is no issue of material fact for a jury to find and that the party is entitled to the judgment in its favor as a matter of law.

Latin for "use-fruit". Civilian equivalent of a life estate.

Latin for "as you possess". Ancient concept regarding conflicts, wherein all property possessed by the parties at the conclusion of the conflict shall remain owned by those parties unless treaties to the contrary are enacted.

Used in select jurisdictions such as Australia, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and South Korea (among others), the idea of a utility model patent is to cover an incremental improvement to a product, process or machine in those cases where such an improvement does not warrant a full patent.

May be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new, useful, and nonobvious process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof.

Protect useful processes, machines, articles of manufacture, and compositions of matter.

The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity (2010) defines at Article 2(c) as follows: “to conduct research and development on the genetic and/or biochemical composition of genetic resources, including through the application of biotechnology as defined in Article 2 of the Convention.”

Latin for "wife". Used in documents in place of the wife's name. Usually abbreviated et ux.

Latin for "or not". Used when considering whether some event or situation is either present or it is not.

Financing provides investors for start-up organizations or small businesses to drive growth.

Latin for "forbid". The power of an executive to prevent an action, especially the enactment of legislation.

Latin for "executorial way". Non-judicial foreclosure under a power of sale clause in a mortgage; more broadly, any non-judicial remedy empowered under a contractual clause or some other instrument

Latin for "way of law". Using the courts and the justice system (opposite of self-help)

Latin for "the other way around". Something that is the same either way.

Latin for "see". Used in citations to refer the reader to another location.

Latin for "contraction of videre licet, meaning "it is permitted to see"". Used in documents to mean "namely" or "that is". Usually abbreviated viz.

Latin for "the chain of the law". A legal bond, especially the bond tying obligor and obligee in a legal obligation

Latin for "superior force". Force majeure arising from an act of God, i.e. events over which no humans have control, and so cannot be held responsible.

Latin for "vice in contracting". Vitiating factor in the formation of a contract, e.g. mistake, misrepresentation, and duress.

Namely

Latin for "Declaration of will".

WIPO Copyright Treaty.

The author's “widow” or “widower” is the author's surviving spouse under the law of the author's domicile at the time of his or her death, whether or not the spouse has later remarried.

When an invention is copied, or continues to be copied after its protected status is already known or made known to the person who is infringing. This can lead to much higher penalties if brought to court. In the US, damages awarded can be up to three times higher, an outcome that is often referred to as triple damages.

Time period after which a utility patent (that issues from an application filed on or after 12 December 1980) expires if a maintenance fee has not been paid. A petition must be filed along with the appropriate fees to reinstate an expired patent.

Time period when a maintenance fee can be paid with or without a surcharge.

Windows Internet Naming Service.

World Intellectual Property Organization. A self-funded UN agency with 189 member states, it provides a global forum for intellectual property services, policy, information and cooperation.

The WIPO Copyright Treaty concluded at Geneva, Switzerland, on December 20, 1996.

A multilingual terminology portal giving access to scientific and technical terms derived from patent documents

The WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty concluded at Geneva, Switzerland, on December 20, 1996.

Documentation programs can raise intellectual property questions for holders of traditional knowledge. Conscious consideration of intellectual property implications is particularly important during the documentation process. The WIPO Traditional Knowledge Documentation Toolkit focuses on management of intellectual property concerns during the documentation process, and also takes the documentation process as a starting point for a more beneficial management of traditional knowledge as a community’s intellectual and cultural asset.
The WIPO Traditional Knowledge Documentation Toolkit is especially designed to be used by indigenous peoples and local communities. Others might also find it useful, such as public officials from IP offices, policy makers in general, research and cultural institutions undertaking documentation projects, among others.

The Model Provisions were adopted in 1982 by a Committee of Governmental Experts convened jointly by WIPO and United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO). The provisions provide a sui generis model for intellectual property-type protection of traditional cultural expressions/expressions of folklore, which has been fairly widely used by WIPO Member States.
The Model Provisions seek to maintain a balance between the protection against abuses of expressions of folklore, on the one hand, and the freedom and encouragement of further development and dissemination of folklore, on the other. They take into account the fact that expressions of folklore form a living body of human culture, which should not be stifled by too rigid protection.
Under the Model Provisions, traditional cultural expressions/expressions of folklore are protected against “illicit exploitation and other prejudicial actions.” In 2000 and 2001, WIPO surveyed States’ experiences with use and implementation of the Model Provisions. A report is available as a WIPO document WIPO/GRTKF/IC/3/10.

This most frequently refers to an application that’s open to public inspection, which has been withdrawn at the request of the applicant.

A non-elected claim.
"Withdrawn" is the status identifier that should be used for claims that were not elected (chosen by the applicant to remain under consideration) in response to a restriction requirement.
Further, an appellant (one who is appealing an examiner's final rejection to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences) may withdraw some of the appealed claims, resulting in cancellation of the withdrawn claims.

An allowed application for a patent in which the applicant files correspondence to withdraw the patent from issue; ;thus preventing it from issuing on the patent issue date. The printed document is sometimes available on the day of publication, but is later retracted and will not be available in the patent database. No copy of the patent document will appear on the official USPTO web site.

A type of trademark consisting of text.

(1) a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment; or
(2) a work specially ordered or commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work, as a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, as a translation, as a supplementary work, as a compilation, as an instructional text, as a test, as answer material for a test, or as an atlas, if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them that the work shall be considered a work made for hire. For the purpose of the foregoing sentence, a “supplementary work” is a work prepared for publication as a secondary adjunct to a work by another author for the purpose of introducing, concluding, illustrating, explaining, revising, commenting upon, or assisting in the use of the other work, such as forewords, afterwords, pictorial illustrations, maps, charts, tables, editorial notes, musical arrangements, answer material for tests, bibliographies, appendixes, and indexes, and an “instructional text” is a literary, pictorial, or graphic work prepared for publication and with the purpose of use in systematic instructional activities.
In determining whether any work is eligible to be considered a work made for hire under paragraph (2), neither the amendment contained in section 1011(d) of the Intellectual Property and Communications Omnibus Reform Act of 1999, as enacted by section 1000(a)(9) of Public Law 106-113, nor the deletion of the words added by that amendment —
(A) shall be considered or otherwise given any legal significance, or
(B) shall be interpreted to indicate congressional approval or disapproval of, or acquiescence in, any judicial determination,
by the courts or the Copyright Office. Paragraph (2) shall be interpreted as if both section 2(a)(1) of the Work Made For Hire and Copyright Corrections Act of 2000 and section 1011(d) of the Intellectual Property and Communications Omnibus Reform Act of 1999, as enacted by section 1000(a)(9) of Public Law 106-113, were never enacted, and without regard to any inaction or awareness by the Congress at any time of any judicial determinations.

A work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person's official duties.

(1) a painting, drawing, print or sculpture, existing in a single copy, in a limited edition of 200 copies or fewer that are signed and consecutively numbered by the author, or, in the case of a sculpture, in multiple cast, carved, or fabricated sculptures of 200 or fewer that are consecutively numbered by the author and bear the signature or other identifying mark of the author; or
(2) a still photographic image produced for exhibition purposes only, existing in a single copy that is signed by the author, or in a limited edition of 200 copies or fewer that are signed and consecutively numbered by the author.
A work of visual art does not include —
(A)(i) any poster, map, globe, chart, technical drawing, diagram, model, applied art, motion picture or other audiovisual work, book, magazine, newspaper, periodical, data base, electronic information service, electronic publication, or similar publication;
(ii) any merchandising item or advertising, promotional, descriptive, covering, or packaging material or container;
(iii) any portion or part of any item described in clause (i) or (ii);
(B) any work made for hire; or
(C) any work not subject to copyright protection under this title.

The "flow of work".
Workflow diagrams are a formal way to identify procedural steps and the logic employed in a process used to complete a task or job. Workflow diagrams include each interim step and product(s); the direction of movement through the process (indicated by arrows); decision points, alternative processes and repeated steps, and dependencies (steps or processes that must be completed before, during or after completion of a particular step); and can include the estimated time required for each step, who performs or reviews each step, and resource requirements. Depending on the type of workflow diagramming method used, the start and end points of each interim step may be listed separately or the entire process step can be indicated by a single notation.

From Public PAIR/IFW - designates the point in time when an amendment is received in the Office and the paper scanning process may be started at the USPTO; does not indicate whether scanning has actually started.

WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty.

World Trade Organization. A multinational organization that presides over the rules of trade between nations. In terms of intellectual property, it was the WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) that introduced rules governing intellectual property into the global trading framework for the first time.

The terms “WTO Agreement” and “WTO member country” have the meanings given those terms in paragraphs (9) and (10), respectively, of section 2 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act.

In the 46 years prior to the Great Fire of 1836, the United States government had issued about 10,000 patents. Most of these could never be revived again, but Congress acted to restore those records that could be reconstructed from private files and reproduce models which were deemed critical. Patents whose records were not restored were cancelled. There were a total of 2,845 patents restored, most of which were eventually given a number beginning with "X". All patents after the date of the establishment of the Patent Office in July 1836 were numbered as a new series (without the X), beginning with a new Patent No. 1 to John Ruggles. A small number of the new series patents had been destroyed in the Great Fire but they were quickly recovered from their owners' records. X files bear numbers that range from X000001 to X011280. X0000001 is the first patent, issued to Samuel Hopkins in 1790.

EXtensible Markup Language - a subset of SGML, or standard generalized markup language; a structured language that facilitates the standardized representation of format and representation and organization of data in an automated environment, such as the use of a browser on a webpage.

The patent application process involves patent offices creating a search report, which itself will cite other relevant documents, for example in the consideration of prior art. These documents are categorised by the examiner in order to indicate their relevance. Category Y, within the EPO definition, is applicable where a document is such that a claimed invention cannot be considered to involve an inventive step when the document is combined with one or more other documents of the same category, such combination being obvious to a person skilled in the art.

In trade mark law, this is the extent to which a trade mark owner has the potential to expand into new territories or geographical regions. It is a concept that attracts criticism from some courts, as the 'zone' can never be objectively described.

An assignment, mortgage, exclusive license, or any other conveyance, alienation, or hypothecation of a copyright or of any of the exclusive rights contained in a copyright, whether or not it is limited in time or place of effect, but not including a nonexclusive license.

A word or phrase that serves to link or create a relationship between one idea or concept and another.
In the following example, "consisting of" is the transitional phrase between "an item" and "one or more parts".
EXAMPLE: an item consisting of one or more parts.

A body of material that, as an aggregate, has been produced for the sole purpose of transmission to the public in sequence and as a unit.

To “transmit” a performance or display is to communicate it by any device or process whereby images or sounds are received beyond the place from which they are sent.

Technical Review Board - an internal OCIO group that reviews IT project development at critical stages for conformance with USPTO standards and guidance.

A country or intergovernmental organization other than the United States that is a party to an international agreement.

Latin for "trial anew". A completely new trial of a matter previously judged. It specifically refers to a replacement trial for the previous one, and not an appeal of the previous decision.

Latin for "three-knotted need". Refers to a threefold tax levied on Anglo-Saxon citizens to cover roads, buildings, and the military.

In the US, damages awarded in court can be up to three times higher if it is proven that an invention was copied after its protected status had already been known or made known to the person infringing (willful infringement).

The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. This is an international agreement administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO). It articulates minimum standards for various forms of intellectual property regulation as applied to nationals of other WTO Members. For example, it is the TRIPS Agreement that requires WTO Members to provide protection for a minimum term of 20 years from the filing date of a patent application for any invention.

A Russian acronym: Teoriya Resheniya Izobretatelskikh Zadatch, which translates as 'The theory of inventive problem solving.' It refers to a science-based, rather than a psychology-based approach (such as brainstorming), to innovation. It centers on defining an ideal end state and then analyzing the contradictions that prevent a product or solution reaching that end state. Products are the result of compromises based on available resources or materials and the TRIZ methodology provides a framework for resolving the contradictions that lead to these compromises. It was devised by a patent examiner for the Russian Navy, Genrich Altshuller, who had reviewed tens of thousands of patents to try and determine what principles led to an innovative breakthrough, versus an incremental improvement.

Technical Reference Model.

Technology Standards and Guidelines.

Technical Support Staff -- USPTO employees who support examination workflow processing.

Trademark Trial and Appeal Board -- an administrative tribunal at the USPTO. It has jurisdiction over appeals from decisions of the Trademark Office, as well as opposition proceedings and cancellation proceedings.

Technology Transfer Office - This relates to an office, often within a university or governmental organization and sometimes within companies, that is responsible for identifying commercial partners or applications of a researched technology. Within universities, the office is responsible for the commercialization of innovation as defined by the intellectual property that a university holds.

Teletypewriter: also known as a TDD (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf).

Latin for "guardianship". Tutorship, i.e. legal guardianship under which the ward is only partially or temporarily incapable.

Term no longer in use.

United States Code.

Latin for "most abundant faith". Concept in contract law specifying that all parties must act with the utmost good faith.

Latin for "where there is the same reason there is the same law".

Unregistered Community Design

Unregistered Design Right

Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy.

USPTO Enterprise Architecture.

Latin for "beyond the powers". An act that requires legal authority to perform, but which is done without obtaining that authority.

Unified Modeling Language.

The Convention was adopted by the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) in 2003 and entered into force on April 20, 2006. It aims at safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, at ensuring respect for the intangible cultural heritage of communities, groups and individuals, at raising awareness of the importance of intangible cultural heritage and at ensuring mutual appreciation thereof, and at providing for international cooperation and assistance.

The Convention was adopted by the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) in 1970 to protect the cultural property existing within the territories of States against the dangers of theft, clandestine excavation, and illicit export. It entered into force in 1972.
The Convention requires its States Parties to take action in three main fields: 1- Preventive measures: inventories, export certificates, monitoring trade, imposition of penal or administrative sanctions, educational campaigns, etc. 2- Restitution provisions: Per Article 7 (b) (ii) of the Convention, States Parties undertake, at the request of the State Party “of origin,” to take appropriate steps to recover and return any such cultural property imported after the entry into force of the Convention in both States concerned, provided, however, that the requesting State shall pay just compensation to an innocent purchaser or to a person who has valid title to that property. More indirectly and subject to domestic legislation, Article 13 of the Convention also provides provisions on restitution and cooperation. 3- International cooperation framework: The idea of strengthening cooperation among and between States Parties is present throughout the Convention. In cases where cultural patrimony is in jeopardy from pillage, Article 9 provides a possibility for more specific undertakings such as a call for import and export controls.

The United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) Convention on Cultural Diversity is an international convention adopted by UNESCO in 2005. It entered into force on March 18, 2007.
The Convention has several objectives set out in Article 1, namely (a) to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions; (b) to create the conditions for cultures to flourish and to freely interact in a mutually beneficial manner; (c) to encourage dialogue among cultures with a view to ensuring wider and balanced cultural exchanges in the world in favor of intercultural respect and a culture of peace; (d) to foster interculturality in order to develop cultural interaction in the spirit of building bridges among peoples; (e) to promote respect for the diversity of cultural expressions and raise awareness of its value at the local, national and international levels; (f) to reaffirm the importance of the link between culture and development for all countries, particularly for developing countries, and to support actions undertaken nationally and internationally to secure recognition of the true value of this link; (g) to give recognition to the distinctive nature of cultural activities, goods and services as vehicles of identity, values and meaning; (h) to reaffirm the sovereign rights of States to maintain, adopt and implement policies and measures that they deem appropriate for the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions on their territory; [and] (i) to strengthen international cooperation and solidarity in a spirit of partnership with a view, in particular, to enhancing the capacities of developing countries in order to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions.

“Unfair competition” is “dishonest or fraudulent rivalry in trade and commerce; esp., the practice of endeavoring to pass off one’s own goods or products in the market for those of another by means of imitating or counterfeiting the name, brand, size, shape, or other distinctive characteristic of the article or its packaging.”
Paragraph 2 of Article 10bis of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (1883) provides that “[a]ny act of competition contrary to honest practices in industrial or commercial matters constitutes an act of unfair competition”. Paragraph 3 of Article 10bis further provides that “ [t]he following in particular shall be prohibited: (i) all acts of such a nature as to create confusion by any means whatever with the establishment, the goods, or the industrial or commercial activities, of a competitor; (ii) false allegations in the course of trade of such a nature as to discredit the establishment, the goods, or the industrial or commercial activities, of a competitor; (iii) indications or allegations the use of which in the course of trade is liable to mislead the public as to the nature, the manufacturing process, the characteristics, the suitability for their purpose, or the quantity, of the goods.”

Currently under development, the Unitary Patent (or EPUE) will provide patent protection at a European level in all participating jurisdictions. Unitary patents would be granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) and be subject to the jurisdiction of the Unified Patent Court (UPC). The system will provide an alternative to national patents.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007. The Declaration acknowledges the equal human rights of indigenous peoples against cultural discrimination and seeks to promote mutual respect and harmonious relations between the indigenous peoples and States.
In relation to traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions and genetic resources, Article 31.1 states that: “[i]ndigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations of their sciences, technologies and cultures, including human and genetic resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literatures, designs, sports and traditional games and visual and performing arts. They also have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their intellectual property over such cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural expressions.” Article 31.2 further provides that “[i]n conjunction with indigenous peoples, States shall take effective measures to recognize and protect the exercise of these rights.” On traditional medicine, Article 24 provides that “[i]ndigenous peoples have the right to their traditional medicines and to maintain their health practices, including the conservation of their vital medicinal plants, animals and minerals.”

For purposes of section 411, a work is a “United States work” only if —
(1) in the case of a published work, the work is first published —
(A) in the United States;
(B) simultaneously in the United States and another treaty party or parties, whose law grants a term of copyright protection that is the same as or longer than the term provided in the United States;
(C) simultaneously in the United States and a foreign nation that is not a treaty party; or
(D) in a foreign nation that is not a treaty party, and all of the authors of the work are nationals, domiciliaries, or habitual residents of, or in the case of an audiovisual work legal entities with headquarters in, the United States;
(2) in the case of an unpublished work, all the authors of the work are nationals, domiciliaries, or habitual residents of the United States, or, in the case of an unpublished audiovisual work, all the authors are legal entities with headquarters in the United States; or
(3) in the case of a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work incorporated in a building or structure, the building or structure is located in the United States.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on December 10, 1948, as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected.

Latin for "totality of people". Aggregate of people, body corporate, as in a college, corporation, or state

Latin for "totality of things". Aggregate of things.

Latin for "single joining together". Contemporaneously; when the phases of something are done without interruption or any intervening action; specifically, executed in one single execution ceremony (vs. ex intervalo temporis)

Latin for "in one breath". Used to criticize inconsistencies in speech or testimony, as in: one says one thing, and in the same breath, says another contradictory thing.

The Unified Patent Court is a proposed common patent court open for participation of all member states of the European Union. It will hear cases regarding infringement and revocation proceedings of European patents valid in the territories of the participating states. A court ruling will be directly applicable throughout those territories.

Utility, Plant, and Reissue.

For the purpose of obtaining federal registration, "commerce" means all commerce that the U.S. Congress may lawfully regulate; for example, interstate commerce or commerce between the U.S. and another country. "Use in commerce" must be a bona fide use of the mark in the ordinary course of trade, and not use simply made to reserve rights in the mark. Generally, acceptable use is as follows:.
For goods: the mark must appear on the goods, the container for the goods, or displays associated with the goods, and the goods must be sold or transported in commerce.
For services: the mark must be used or displayed in the sale or advertising of the services, and the services must be rendered in commerce. If you have already started using the mark in commerce, you may file based on that use.
A "use" based application must include a sworn statement(usually in the form of a declaration) that the mark is in use in commerce, listing the date of first use of the mark anywhere and the date of first use of the mark in commerce. A properly worded declaration is included in the USPTO standard application form. The applicant or a person authorized to sign on behalf of the applicant must sign the statement. The application should include a specimen showing use of the mark in commerce.

Traditional knowledge and cultural expressions can be used for different purposes. The use of traditional knowledge or cultural expressions includes commercial or industrial use, customary use, fair use, household use and public health use of traditional medicine, and research and educational use.

There are 4 filing bases on which an application may be based. One filing basis is use of the mark in commerce (the other three are filing based on an intent-to-use the mark in commerce, filing based on a pending foreign application, and filing based on a foreign registration). Applicants who file based on use in commerce must be using the mark they wish to register with the goods or services in the application prior to or at the time of filing the application.
To base the application on the applicant's use of the mark in commerce, the applicant must submit the following four items: (1) A statement that the mark is in use in commerce, as defined by 15 U.S.C. §1127, and was in use in such commerce on or in connection with the goods or services listed in the application on the application filing date; (2) The date of the applicant's first use of the mark anywhere on or in connection with the goods or services; (3) The date of the applicant's first use of the mark in commerce as a trademark or service mark; and (4) One specimen for each class showing how the applicant actually uses the mark in commerce. If the specimen is not filed with the initial application, the applicant must submit a statement that the specimen was in use in commerce at least as early as the application filing date. These items must be verified by the applicant, i.e., supported either by an affidavit or by a declaration under 37 C.F.R. SS2.20 and 2.33. Trademark Act Section 1(a), 15 U.S.C. §1051(a); 37 C.F.R. SS2.34(a)(1) and 2.59(a); TMEP S806.01(a).

An article having an intrinsic utilitarian function that is not merely to portray the appearance of the article or to convey information. An article that is normally a part of a useful article is considered a “useful article”.

United States Patent and Trademark Office designation became effective April 3, 2000; a result of the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999.

United States Trade Representative.

Latin for "seizure of use". Acquisitive prescription, i.e. the civilian version of adverse possession. Also called ‘prescription acquirendi causa’.

Latin for "usufructuary". life tenant.

Secondary trademark register for the USPTO. It allows for registration of certain marks that are not eligible for registration on the Principal Register, but are capable of distinguishing an applicant's goods or services. Marks registered on the Supplemental Register receive protection from conflicting marks and other protections, but are excluded from receiving the advantages of certain sections of the Trademark Act of 1946. The excluded sections are listed in 15 U.S.C. §1094.
If the applicant seeks registration on the Supplemental Register, the application should state that registration is requested on the Supplemental Register. If no register is specified, the Office will presume that the applicant seeks registration on the Principal Register. To register a mark on the Supplemental Register, applicants must either be using the mark or filing under Trademark Act Section 44 based on a foreign registration.