Intellectual Property Law Glossary

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Glossary of Intellectual Property Terms

Introduction

Welcome to Klemchuk PLLC’s Intellectual Property Law Glossary — a resource created to help business owners, innovators, entrepreneurs, and legal professionals better understand the language of intellectual property (IP).

Intellectual property law can be complex, and many terms carry very specific legal meanings. This glossary provides clear, plain-English definitions of essential IP concepts so you can make informed decisions about protecting and enforcing your rights.

How to Use This Glossary

  • Browse alphabetically for quick reference.

  • Search for specific terms using your browser’s find function in the search bar.

  • Explore related content: many entries link to articles, resources, and case studies for deeper insights.

Where appropriate, we’ve also included real-world examples to show how these terms appear in contracts, enforcement actions, or business transactions.

What You’ll Find Here

This intellectual property law glossary covers key areas of IP law, including:

  • Patents – protecting inventions and innovations

  • Trademarks – safeguarding brands, logos, and product names

  • Copyrights – protecting original works of authorship

  • Trade Secrets – preserving confidential business information

  • Licensing & Enforcement – strategies for leveraging and defending IP assets

  • Emerging Topics – such as brand protection, international IP, and digital rights

Each definition is written to be accessible to non-lawyers while remaining accurate for professionals.

Why IP Terminology Matters

Understanding IP terminology can help you:

  • Communicate more effectively with your attorneys and business partners.

  • Spot potential risks and opportunities when building or enforcing your IP portfolio.

  • Gain confidence in reviewing contracts, licenses, and agreements.

By learning the vocabulary of intellectual property law, you gain practical tools to better protect your business assets.

About Klemchuk PLLC

Klemchuk PLLC is a Dallas-based intellectual property law firm that helps clients protect, enforce, and leverage their IP assets. We represent innovators, entrepreneurs, and established businesses across the U.S. and internationally. This glossary reflects our commitment to making IP law more accessible for businesses of all sizes.

Questions about IP Law?

If you have questions about how these terms apply to your business, or if you need help developing a comprehensive IP strategy, please contact our team.

Disclaimer

This glossary is provided for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The definitions and explanations are simplified to promote general understanding and may not address all nuances of intellectual property law. Because each situation is unique, you should consult with a qualified attorney before making decisions related to intellectual property rights or legal strategy. Use of this resource does not create an attorney-client relationship with Klemchuk PLLC.

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Browse by Index of Intellectual Property Law Terms

Intellectual Property Terminology Included in the Glossary

  • N “National Institutes of Health” to “NPL Non-Patent Literature (patent)”

  • O “OACS” to “Owner”

  • P “PAC” to “Pubs”

  • Q “Quasi-Contractual Obligation” to “Quit Claim Deed”

  • R “RAM” to “RUP”

  • S “S&T” to “Suspension Inquiry Letter”

  • T “Tangible Research Property” to “Typed Mark”

  • U “UDRP Domain Name Proceedings” to “Utility Requirement (patents)”

  • V “Valuation of Intellectual Property” to “Voluntary Surrender of Patent Rights”

  • W “WCT” to “WTO Member Country”

  • X “X-Patent” to “XML”

  • Y “Yearly Review” to “YouTube Copyright Infringement”

  • Z “Zero Damages” to “Zombie Copyright”

  • A “AAU” to “Authorship”

  • B “Background Technology” to “Bypass Continuing Application”

  • C “C&A” to “Cybersquatting”

  • D “Data Breaches & Hacking” to “DTD”

  • E “EA” to “Extension Request”

  • F “Fair Use” to “FY”

  • G “GAU” to “GSA”

  • H “Haar Doctrine” to “Home Copy”

  • I “IAC” to “ITU”

  • J “JCCT” to “Junior User”

  • K “Key Characteristics of Design Patents” to “KSA”

  • L “Label Requirement for Trademarks” to “Luxury Brand Protection”

  • M “Machine-Readable Recordable Medium Patents” to “Multiple Dependent Claim


A “AAU” to “Authorship”

Back to Glossary Index

AAU (patent): Application Assistance Unit is the call center that serves the Office of Patent Application Processing (OPAP) and Office of Data Management (ODM).

ABA #: American Bankers Association Number is often referred to as the “transit routing number,” is the nine-digit electronic address of a financial institution.

Abandoned Application: An application (patent, trademark, or copyright) that is no longer active or pending.  

Abandonment: Abandonment may be either of the invention or of a patent application. 

ABC: Activity Based Cost Accounting is an accrual-based accounting method for determining unit-based costs of delivering services by allocating the costs to budgetary resources; it measures the performance and costs related to a specific activity or function.

ABM: Activity Based Management is a management methodology that combines ABC with business process analysis techniques to run, improve, and measure performance for a business or organization.

ABSS: Automated Biotechnology Sequence Search is a system designed to search electronic sequence listing data submitted by applicants and molecular sequences using applicant submissions and commercial databases of published sequence information.

Abstract of the Disclosure: A brief abstract of the technical disclosure in the specification commencing on a separate sheet, preferably following the claims, under the heading “Abstract” or “Abstract of the Disclosure.” 

Abstract: For a patent, a concise statement of its technical disclosure.

Accelerated Examination: USPTO established procedures under which the examination of a patent application may be accelerated.

Acceptable Identification of Goods and Services Manual: A USPTO manual listing acceptable identifications of goods and services for use in trademark applications.

ACH: Automated Clearing House is a nationwide batch-oriented electronic funds transfer system governed by the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA).

Actual Filing Date: The patent application’s filing date.

Administrative Instructions: Refers to the Administrative Instructions established by the Director General of WIPO under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) or under the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs (Hague Agreement).

ADS: The ADS or “Application Data Sheet” is a sheet or set of sheets containing bibliographic data, which is arranged in a format specified by the office in accordance with 37 CFR 1.76.    

After Final Consideration Pilot: A USPTO program allowing applicants to request additional consideration of a response to a final rejection.

Agent: An individual who is authorized to represent an another, called a “principal.”  For patents, this is a person registered to practice before the office and authorized to represent an applicant for a patent.  An “agent” is not a licensed attorney, but is authorized to act for or on behalf of the applicant.

Agreement: A contract.

AIA: America Invents Act.

AIPA: American Inventors Protection Act, an amendment to the U.S. Patent Act, legislation aimed at protecting the rights of inventors.

AIPLA: American Intellectual Property Law Association.

AIR: The Automated Interview Request (AIR) form is a way for applicants to schedule an interview using the Internet, e.g., an alternative to leaving an examiner voicemail to schedule an interview.

AIS: Automated Information System.

ALC #: Agency Location Code is an eight-digit code assigned to U.S. government agencies by the Department of Treasury.

Allegation of Use: A statement filed by a trademark applicant at the UPSTO asserting the use of a trademark in commerce in connection with claimed goods/services. 

Amazon Brand Registry Program: A program intended to help brand owners protect their intellectual property (IP) and police use of brands on Amazon to protect consumers.

Amazon’s Utility Patent Neutral Evaluation Procedure: An expedited legal proceeding managed by Amazon to resolve disputes over utility patents between sellers.

Amendment to Allege Use: A sworn document filed with the USPTO to declare use of a trademark in commerce in connection with claimed goods/services after filing an intent-to-use (ITU) application.

Amendments to Patent Applications: Any modifications, including additions, made to an application during a patent process.

Annex F: PCT Administrative Instructions reference

Annuity Fees: Governmental fees that patent applicants and holders must pay to maintain their patent rights each year.  Annuities are typically charged by patent offices foreign to the United States.  

Anonymous Work: For copyrights, a work for which the author is not identified as a natural person.

Anticipation: Under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a), a concept in patent law where an invention is not considered novel because it has been previously disclosed in a single prior art reference.  “Anticipation” can be used to reject a pending patent application or if a patent is issued, invalidate patent claims. 

Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act: The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), 15 USC § 1125(D) “was intended to prevent ‘cybersquatting,’ an expression that has come to mean the bad faith, abusive registration and use of the distinctive trademarks of others as Internet domain names, with the intent to profit from the goodwill associated with those trademarks.”

Anti-Counterfeiting & Trademark Piracy: Anti-Counterfeiting & Trademark Piracy are steps taken to stop counterfeiting and piracy of trademarks, which can include IP enforcement programs.  For more information, please see our Anti-Counterfeiting & Trademark Piracy page.

Anti-Trafficking in Trademarks: Legal strategies and tactics to prevent infringement, piracy, and counterfeiting of trademarks.

APMS: Automated Project Management System.

Appeal (patent): An applicant for a patent application, reissue application, or reexamination proceeding dissatisfied with the primary examiner's second adverse decision or final rejection may appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) for review of the examiner’s rejection.

Appeal (trademarks): An applicant’s request made to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) to review a trademark examining the attorney’s final decision regarding an application for registration.

Applicant: The person or entity that files for a patent, copyright, or trademark registration.

Applicant's Contracting Party: The Contracting Party or one of the Contracting Parties from which the applicant derives its entitlement to file an international design application under the Hague Agreement by virtue of satisfying, in relation to that Contracting Party, at least one of the conditions specified in Article 3 of the Hague Agreement (nationality, domicile, habitual residence, or a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment).

Application (US) (patent): A U.S. application for patent filed under 35 USC 111(a) includes original nonprovisional utility, design, plant, divisional, continuation, and continuation-in-part applications filed under 37 CFR 1.53(b), reissue applications filed under 37 CFR 1.53(b), and design patent continued prosecution applications (CPAs) filed under 37 CFR 1.53(d). Applications filed under 35 USC 111(b) are provisional applications for patent and are filed under 37 CFR 1.53(c).

Application (US) (trademarks): A written request to the USPTO for federal registration of a trademark for specified goods or services

Application Assistance Unit (AAU): The call center that serves the Office of Patent Application Processing (OPAP) with questions related to the patent process.

Application Data Sheet (ADS): A sheet or set of sheets containing bibliographic data, which is arranged in a format specified by the office. An ADS must comply with the requirements of 37 CFR 1.76.

Application Filing Date (trademarks): The date when an application meets these minimum requirements: It must be written in English and contain the applicant's name and their contact information (including email address), a clear drawing of the trademark, a list of goods or services, a filing fee for at least one class, and if applicable, an attorney name and their contact information (including email address).

Application Number (US) (patent): The unique number assigned to a patent application when it is filed. The application number includes a two-digit series code and a six-digit serial number.

Arbitrary Marks: Trademarks that consist of words or images that do not inherently describe the product or service for which they function as the source identifier.  Arbitrary marks are considered inherently distinctive, which entitles them to a higher degree of protection.  

Architectural Work: For copyright applications, an architectural work is an artistic creation that represents the design of a building or structure. 

Artistic Works: Copyrightable works that includes drawings, paintings, literary works, and more.

ASEAN: Association of South East Asian Nations.

Assignee: The person or entity to which rights have been transferred through an assignment.

Assignment: The transfer of rights held by one party to another party or parties.

Assignment (patent): In general, the act of transferring to another the ownership of one's property, i.e., the interest and rights to the property

Assignment (trademarks): A transfer of ownership of a trademark in an application or registration.

Assignment Center: The system used to submit trademark assignments and ownership change documents for name changes or when a trademark has been transferred to a new owner.

Assignment of Copyright: Transfer of copyright ownership, which in most cases must be done in writing.

Assignment Recordation Branch (ARB): Helps with issues relating to new assignments or obtaining information relating to a pending assignment, as well as questions about assignments, liens on patents, and filing assignments recordation forms.

Assignor: The person or entity transferring rights through an assignment.

ATO: Authority to operate.  Attorneys may offer “authority to operate” opinions to clients wishing to enter a new technology area to ensure a new product or service does not infringe the rights of another.  

Attorney: A person who is legally qualified and licensed to practice law, represent clients, and conduct lawsuits.  Attorneys may be licensed by the States, Washington, D.C., and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”).  

Attorney-Client Privilege: With narrow exceptions, communications between a lawyer and their client are shielded from discovery.  

Audiovisual Works: For copyrights, audiovisual works are works that consist of a series of related images that impart an impression of motion, together with accompanying sounds.

Authorized Attorney or Practitioner (trademarks): An attorney who is an active member in good standing of the bar of the highest court of any U.S. state who represents an applicant, registrant, or party in a trademark matter before the USPTO.

Authorship: For copyrights, the creator of an original work.

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B “Background Technology” to “Bypass Continuing Application”

Back to Glossary Index

Background Technology: Sometimes called "Underlying Technology," technology already in existence that is required for creation, use or most efficient use of your innovation.

Bayh-Dole Act: Federal Legislation enacted this act in 1980. It was made effective in 1981 and gives ownership rights of discoveries made using federal funds to universities and certain non-profit institutions.

Beauregard Claim: A claim in a patent that refers to or describes a computer program embodied in a tangible medium like a hard disk, CD, or flash drive, tying the software to a physical element.

Benefit Claim: A claim in a patent application that refers to or claims the benefit of an earlier filing date from a related application.

Berne Convention: An international agreement governing copyright protection, which allows works from one member country to be protected in other member countries.

Best Edition: The requirement under U.S. copyright law to deposit the best version of a work when registering a copyright.

Best Mode Requirement: A requirement in patent law to disclose the best method known to the inventor for carrying out the invention at the time of filing the patent application.

BIA: Business Impact Analysis.

Blackout Period: The period after a trademark is approved for publication and before a Notice of Allowance is issued.  

Boolean: Boolean logic (named for the British-born Irish mathematician George Boole) express relationships in logic arguments using the following three operators: "and", "or", "not".

BPAI: Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (since 2012 Patent Trial and Appeal Board).

BPAIIS: Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences Information System (replaced by PTAB E2E).

Brand Protection: Protection of a brand typically through trademark and copyright registrations.  For more information, see our Brand Protection page.  

Branding: The process of creating a unique or distinctive source identifier for a product or service in the minds of consumers.  This can be accomplished through a word mark, an image or logo, and/or a tagline.  Sounds, colors, product appearance and packaging, and other identifiers can also be used to establish a brand.   

Breach of Contract Litigation: Litigation where one party claims the other party breached an obligation set forth in a contract between the parties.  For more information, see our Breach of Contract Litigation page.  

Breach of Fiduciary Duty Litigation: Litigation where one party claims it was owed a fiduciary duty by the defendant and that the defendant breached this duty causing harm to the plaintiff.  For more information, see our Breach of Fiduciary Duty page.  

BRM: Business Reference Model is an organized, hierarchical way to describe the day-to-day business operations of the federal government; this model presents the business using a functionally driven approach regardless of organizational structure.

Business Entity Formation: Formation of a corporation, limited liability company, partnership, or limited liability partnership.  For more information, see our Business Entity Formation page.  

Business Planning: The planning of a business, which includes the business entity formation and governance, financing, ownership, and operations.  For more information, see our Business Planning page.  

Business Transactions: Business transactions include financing, mergers and acquisitions, contracts, sales, raising capital or debt, and commercial agreements.  For more information, see our Business Transactions page.  

Bypass Continuing Application: A continuing application filed under 35 USC 111(a) claiming domestic benefit to an international application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty.


Back to Glossary Index


C “C&A” to “Cybersquatting”

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C&A: Certification and Accreditation.

CAO: Chief Administrative Officer.

CBM: Covered Business Method

Canceled: A status indicating that a legal claim, such as a trademark registration or patent claim, has been nullified and is no longer valid.

Canceled Claim: For a patent application, a claim that has been removed from consideration or altered during the patent examination process.

Canceled Registration: Trademark registration that's no longer active, so the owner no longer benefits from the rights that come with a federal registration.

Cancellation Proceeding: A legal challenge to the validity of a registered trademark filed with the TTAB.

CD: A type of form designation such as Form CD435, meaning a Commerce Department form.

CEAR: Certificate of Excellence in Accountability Reporting.

Cease and Desist: A letter sent by an intellectual property rights owner (such as a trademark, copyright, or patent) to a party it believes to be infringing the owner’s rights.  “Cease” means stop; “desist” means do not do in the future.  

Cease and Desist letter or email: A communication that a trademark, patent, copyright, other IP owner sends to another party alleging that the recipient is infringing on the owner's IP rights and demanding that the infringer stop and not infringe in the future. 

Certificate of Mailing: A document proving that a particular piece of mail has been sent.

Certificate of Registration:  A document issued by a government authority that officially records the registration of something, such as a trademark, copyright, or patent. Certificates of registration are often used in litigation to meet a plaintiff’s burden to prove it owns the claimed IP asserted in the lawsuit.    

Certification Mark: A mark that identifies goods and services at a certain standard.

CFC: Combined Federal Campaign is an annual government-wide campaign for charitable contributions from federal employees.

CFO: Chief Financial Officer.

CFO/CAO: Chief financial officer/chief administrative officer is a distinctive high-level managerial role, with the CFO being responsible for overseeing the financial operations of an organization and the CAO supervising its administrative functions.

CFR: Code of Federal Regulations, a codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the departments and agencies of the U.S. government.

CFS: Core Financial System.

Chapter I: The first phase under the Patent Cooperation Treaty that includes performance of an international-type search and issuance of an international search report and written opinion by the International Searching Authority, and publication of the international application and international search report by the International Bureau of WIPO.

Chapter II: The second, optional, phase under the Patent Cooperation Treaty that is initiated with the timely filing of a demand for international preliminary examination.

CIO: Chief Information Officer.

CIP: Continuation-In-Part, a type of patent application that adds new matter to an existing application while retaining the original filing date for what was previously disclosed and is assigned a new filing date for the new materials added to the application.  

CIS: Customer information system.

Claim: A statement defining the scope of the invention in a patent application; a patent must have at least one claim.

Claim Chart: A tool used to analyze and apply the elements of a patent claim to an accused device or process to establish patent infringement.  Often used in patent litigation.  Can also be used to show that a patent claim is invalid in light of prior art disclosures.  

Claims: For patents, the claim defines the invention.  For litigation, a claim is a cause of action asserted by one party against another.  

Classification: A code that provides a method for categorizing the invention.

Classification of Goods and Services: A system used by trademark offices to categorize and register trademarks according to specific categories of goods or services.

Clearance Search: A search completed before applying for a trademark registration to make sure the trademark is available to register for a particular class or group of goods or services, and to make sure that no other trademark conflicts with it.

Cloud Computing Technology: Cloud computing technology involves use of computers, computer networks, databases, and related technology. For more information, see our Cloud Computing Technology page.  

Code of Federal Regulations: Also referred to as the “CFR”, the codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the departments and agencies of the Federal Government.

Coinventor: An inventor who is named with at least one other inventor in a patent application, wherein each inventor contributes to the conception (creation) of the invention set forth in at least one claim in a patent application.  In general, co-inventors of a patent application are considered co-owners even if the contributions made were not equal.  

Collective Mark: A trademark or service mark used by members of a cooperative, an association, or other collective group or organization.

Collective Work: For copyrights, a collective work that consists of a number of contributions, each constituting separate and independent works in themselves, assembled into a collective whole.

Combination Patent: A patent that claims a combination of elements or features that work together to perform a function.

Commerce Clause: A clause located within Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution granting Congress the authority to oversee interstate commerce and business dealings with foreign countries.

Commercial Litigation:  Commercial litigation typically involves commercial transactions and rights such as breach of contract, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty litigation.  For more information, see our Commercial Litigation page.

Commercialization: The process of licensing an innovation, whether a product or process, developed by a university or government laboratory to a private company for commercial development.

Commissioned Work: A copyrightable work created by someone other than the employee of an entity at the entity's request or any work requested to be completed by an employee outside of his or her scope of employment.

Common Inventor: An inventor who is named in more than one patent application, showing a linkage between the applications.  

Common Law Rights: Trademark rights that are established when a trademark is used in commerce in connection with specific goods and services. The “common law rights” are often limited to the geographic area of the use and possibly a foreseeable zone of expansion.  These rights are determined by States as opposed to federal statutes.  

Common Law Trademark: A type of trademark protection that is established by the States through actual use of the mark in commerce, without a formal registration, in connection with specific goods and services.  “Common Law Trademarks” can sometimes include a foreseeable zone of expansion.  

Compilation: A copyright work formed by collecting and assembling preexisting materials that are selected, coordinated, or arranged in such a way that the resulting work as a whole constitutes an original work of authorship under the Copyright Act.

Complaint: In federal court, a complaint is typically the initial document in a lawsuit setting forth the claims and relief sought by the plaintiff.  

Complete Trademark Application: A trademark application that includes all required information.

Composed Of: A term used in patent claims to specify that the invention includes all the listed elements or steps.

Composition of Matter: A category of patent law that includes compositions of two or more substances and all composite articles, whether they be the result of chemical union, or of mechanical mixture, or whether they be gases, fluids, powders, or solids.

Comprising: A term in patent claims that is inclusive, indicating that the list of elements can include additional, unrecited elements.

Computer Program: A set of instructions executed by a computer to perform a specific task.

Concept: An idea or design.

Conception of Invention: The formation, in the mind of the inventor, of a definite and permanent idea of the complete and operative invention, as it is to be applied in practice.

Concurrent Use Agreement: An agreement resolving the conflict between two parties using the same or similar trademark in different geographic areas.

Concurrent Use Application: An application filed for a trademark that is already in use by another party, usually in a different geographical area.

Concurrent Use Proceeding: A legal proceeding at the TTAB to resolve conflicts when two parties claim rights to the same trademark in different geographic areas.

Confidentiality Agreement: An agreement executed prior to sharing confidential information in order to protect Intellectual Property rights, such as trade secrets and know how. Similar to a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).

Confirmation Number: A four-digit number that is assigned to each newly filed patent application.

Conflicting Marks: Trademarks that are similar enough to potentially cause confusion among consumers, given the likelihood of confusion factors.  

Conflicting Trademark: A trademark that is similar to another trademark, and that is used with goods or services that are related to your goods or services that may lead to a likelihood of confusion.

CONFU: Conference on Fair Use.

Consent Agreement: An agreement between two parties where a party consents to the use by the other party of a trademark that might otherwise infringe on trademark rights.  Consent Agreements often contain mutual consent as well as no-challenge provisions.  

Consideration: Payments in any form, such as cash, forgiven debt, services, assets, equity ownership, or any other item of value.

Consisting Essentially Of: A phrase used in patent law to indicate that the invention necessarily includes the listed elements or features, but may also include other elements that do not materially affect the basic and novel characteristics.

Consisting Of: A transitional phrase that is closed (only includes exactly what is stated) and excludes any additional element, step, or ingredient not specified in the claim.

Consulting Agreement: Also be called an independent contractor agreement. A contract between a non-employee (i.e. a consultant or contractor) and an entity for a specific purpose or objective that specifies the work to be accomplished and payment to be made for services rendered. A consulting agreement should also specify the owner of the deliverable, such as IP rights.

Continuation: A type of patent application filed to pursue additional claims based on the same disclosure as a prior application and is therefore entitled to the filing date of the earlier application.

Continuation in Part: Also referred to as “CIP,” a patent application filed during the lifetime of an earlier nonprovisional application, that includes a portion or all of the earlier nonprovisional application and adding some new matter not disclosed in the earlier nonprovisional application.

Continuation Patent Application — Continuation applications may extend the patent prosecution process and refining claims.

Continued Use: The ongoing use of a trademark in commerce.  Continued use is necessary to maintain trademark rights, both at the USPTO and in common law.  

Continuing Application: A patent application that claims priority to a previously filed application, including continuations, divisionals, and continuations-in-part.

Contracting Party: A country or intergovernmental organization that participates in the Madrid International Trademark System, which allows trademark owners to register and manage trademarks worldwide. This system was established by an international treaty, which is commonly called the "Madrid Protocol."

Contracting State: A state that is party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

Contracts & Commercial Agreements:  Contacts are agreements between two or more parties, typically reduced to writing.  For more information, see our Contracts & Commercial Agreements page.  

Contributor: Someone who plays a role in the creation of an invention. Can be any role from conceptualization to collaboration. Does not include someone who is simply involved in the reduction of an invention - all contributors must be listed in the patent application.

Contributory Infringement: A doctrine of copyright, trademark, and patent law where a person or company may be held liable for infringing on a copyright, trademark, or patent based on their contribution to another’s infringement.  In most cases, for contributory infringement to exist, there must be direct infringement by a third party.  

Control No: A unique number assigned to a patent reexamination request when it is filed, having a 2-digit series code and a 6-digit serial number.

Copies: Under copyright law, material objects, other than phonorecords, in which a work is fixed by any method now known or later developed, and from which the work can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. 

Copyright: Legal protection under U.S. laws for authors of "original works of authorship" including written literary works, music, artistic creations and other intellectual works such as audiovisual works and computer programs. Codified under 17 USC Section 101, et seq.

Copyright Counterfeiting Enforcement:  Strategies to stop counterfeiters of copyrightable material, such as software.  For more information, see our Copyright Counterfeiting Enforcement page.  

Copyright Definition: The legal right that grants the creator of original work exclusive rights to its use and distribution.

Copyright Deposit: A copy of the work claimed for protection submitted as part of the copyright application registration process.  

Copyright Indemnification & Indemnity: Where a third-party owes indemnity relating to a copyright claim, typically copyright infringement or a dispute over copyright ownership.  For more information, see our Copyright Indemnification & Indemnity page.  

Copyright Infringement Defense: A defense to a claim for copyright infringement such as license, exhaustion, and fair use doctrine.  For more information, see our Copyright Infringement Defense page.  

Copyright Licensing: Granting rights to a third party to use a copyright.  For more information, see our Copyright Licensing page.  

Copyright Litigation: Litigation over copyright infringement, ownership, and other issues related to copyrights.  For more information, see our Copyright Litigation page.  

Copyright Owner: The person or legal entity that holds the copyright in a work, possessing exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, and exploit the work as defined under the U.S. Copyright Act.  

Copyright Protection: The protections afforded to works under the U.S. Copyright Act.  For more information, see our Copyright Protection page.  

Copyright Registration:  An official recognition of a copyright by the U.S. Copyright Office.  For more information, see our Copyright Registration page.  

Copyrights: Legal rights granted to creators of original works of authorship, including the right to control the use and distribution of these works, under the U.S. Copyright Act.  

Corporate Financing: Corporate Financing includes raising debt through a variety of instruments.  For more information, see our Corporate Financing page.  

Corporate Governance & Counseling: Corporate Governance & Counseling involves corporate meetings and meeting minutes, election of officers and managers, and other corporate activities.  For more information, see our Corporate Governance & Counseling page.  

COTS: Commercial off-the-shelf - an acquisition term referring to commercially available ready to use products that require no customization in order to meet performance requirements.

Counterclaim: A claim made by someone being sued against the party suing them.

Counterpart: A document or agreement, such as a signature page, that is one of several identical copies, each considered original but together constituting one document.

Country of Origin (trademarks): Foreign country where you are domiciled, are a national, or have a bona fide and effective industrial or commercial establishment.

Course of Normal Duties: Also referred to as "scope of employment," duties assigned to an employee by an employer.

Covered Business Method (CBM) Review Proceedings: Covered Business Method Patent Review Proceedings involve reviews conducted by the USPTO for certain types of patents considered “Business Method” patents.  For more information, see our Covered Business Method (CBM) Review Proceeding page.  

CPA: Continued Prosecution Application.

CPC: Cooperative Patent Classification is a joint partnership between USPTO and EPO to harmonize the existing classification systems.

CPIC: Capital Planning and Investment Control envisioned in the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996, OMB Circular A-130 (Management of Federal Information Resources) and other related guidance, this is a management process for ongoing identification, selection, control, and evaluation of investments in information resources.

Created: When a work is fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time; where a work is prepared over a period of time, the portion of it that has been fixed at any particular time constitutes the work as of that time, and where the work has been prepared in different versions, each version constitutes a separate work.

Creator: Anyone who conceives or participates in the conception of Intellectual Property.

CRF: Computer readable format.

CRU: Central Reexamination Unit.

CSR: Customer service representative.

CSS: Cascading Style Sheet - a technology used for webpages to format fonts and control layouts on the computer display.

Current Filing Basis: The legal basis upon which a trademark application is filed, indicating how the mark is used or intended to be used in commerce.  Typically, this is referred to as “1a” use based or “1b” intent to use based.  

Customer & Reseller Agreements: An agreement between a customer or reseller and a supplier.  For more information, see our Customer & Reseller Agreement page.  

Customer Number: A unique number assigned to a customer or client by a company or organization for identification and record-keeping purposes.

Customs & Border Protection IP Rights Enforcement:  Strategies and tactics to prevent entry into the United States of products that infringe trademarks, copyrights, and patents. For more information, see our Customs & Border Protection IP Rights Enforcement page.  

Cyber Security: Strategies and tactics to protect computer systems, networks, electronic devices, and databases from digital attack.  For more information, see our Cyber Security page.  

Cybersquatting: Typically defined as registration of a domain name incorporating the distinctive trademark rights of another coupled with bad faith.  For more information, see our Cybersquatting page.  

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D “Data Breaches & Hacking” to “DTD”

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Data Breaches & Hacking: Data breaches and hacking occur when an unauthorized third party gains access to a computer, database, cloud network, or other device.  For more information, see our Data Breaches & Hacking page.  

Data Compliance: Data compliance is governed by a set of national and international laws, regulations, and treaties.  Examples include GDPR and COPPA.  For more information, see our Data Compliance page.  

Data Privacy: Data privacy is freedom from unauthorized intrusion by third parties.  For more information, see our Data Privacy page.  

Dead: A dead or abandoned status for a trademark application means that application is no longer under prosecution within the USPTO, and would not be used as a bar against a subsequent filing.

Dead Application or Registration: A trademark application or registration that is no longer active, so it cannot be used to bar another pending trademark application from federal registration. The trademarks in dead applications or registrations may still be in use in commerce, and the owner may have common law rights, which may be asserted against a subsequent user of the same or similar mark.

Deceased Inventor: A patent inventor that passed away before the patent application process is completed.

Deceptive Trademarks: A trademark using language considered to be misleading to a consumer.

Declaration: A statement, typically sworn or under oath, verifying that the information in a document is true and factual.

Declaration (trademarks): Statement verifying that the information in a submission to the USPTO is true, and that the person submitting it is aware of the legal penalties for knowingly submitting false information.

Declaration/Oath: An oath or declaration under 35 USC 115. An oath or declaration must be filed in each application for a patent (other than a provisional application).

Declaratory Judgment Lawsuit: A lawsuit that seeks a declaration of rights from the court.  

Defendant: The party being sued.

Default Judgment: Decision in a Trademark Trial and Appeal Board proceeding when a defendant doesn't respond on time to a complaint.

Deferred Patent Prosecution: A procedure allowing applicants to delay examination of a patent application.

Demand: A request for a certain action or cessation of an action.   

Dependent Claim: A patent claim that depends on or refer back to a claim that is either an independent claim or another dependent claim.  

Deposit Account: An account that is established in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), upon payment of a fee for establishing such an account, for the convenience in paying any fees due, in ordering services offered by the USPTO, copies of records, etc.

Derivation: A derivation proceeding is a trial proceeding conducted at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to determine whether (i) an inventor named in an earlier application derived the claimed invention from an inventor named in the petitioner's application, and (ii) the earlier application claiming such invention was filed without authorization.

Derivative Work: In copyright law, a work that is based up and may include one or more preexisting works.  

Descriptive Trademark: Trademark that merely describes some aspect of the goods or services without identifying or distinguishing the source of those goods or services. Descriptive trademarks are registrable only in certain circumstances and are not considered inherently distinctive.

Design Code Search Manual: Lists the numerical codes for searching designs in the USPTO's trademark database (TESS).

Design Patent: A patent that protects the ornamental design, configuration, or shape of an invention for a period of 15 years.  Design patents do not require maintenance fees and are limited to the ornamental as opposed to functional inventions.  

Design Patent Accelerated Examination: A program offering faster examination for design patent applications.

Design Patent Application: An application for a patent that protects the ornamental aspect of an invention, rather than its functional aspects.  

Design Search Code: Numerical code assigned to a specific type of design or image, used to search our database for trademarks that include that type of design.

Design Search Code Manual: Manual listing numerical codes, called "design search codes," for various types of designs and images. Design search codes are used to search the trademark database.

Designation: The Contracting States or Contracting Parties for which protection of an invention is sought in an international application filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) or in an international design application filed under the Hague Agreement. The filing of a Request in an international PCT application constitutes the designation of all Contracting States bound by the PCT on the international filing date.

Development Expense: Costs associated with developing, protecting or improving the commercial viability of Intellectual Property.

DHCP: Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol.

DiD: Defense in Depth is multiple layers of security to provide added protection to IT resources.

Digital Transmission: A transmission in whole or in part in a digital format.

Dilution: Weakening or devaluation of a famous trademark when a similar or identical trademark is used in commerce, even with unrelated goods or services. Owners of famous marks have superior rights to restrict the use by third parties that dilute (blurring or tarnishment) of the famous mark.

Disclaimer (patent): A patentee, whether of the whole or any sectional interest therein, may, on payment of the fee required by law, make disclaimer (giving up all or part of the owner's rights to enforce claims) of any complete claim(s), stating therein the extent of their interest in such patent.

Disclaimer (trademarks): Statement in an application that the applicant does not claim exclusive rights to an unregistrable portion of the trademark, such as a generic word.

Disclosure Document: The USPTO eliminated its Disclosure Document Program on February 1, 2007.

Director and Officer Liability Representation: Often in commercial and business litigation, separate counsel is required to represent involved officers and directors due to conflicts issues.  For more information, see our Director and Officer Liability Representation page.  

Disclaimer: Giving up legal rights, often in the case of patent and trademark prosecution.  

Disclosure: A patent application as filed must contain a full and clear disclosure of the invention as required by 35 USC §112(a).

Display: To show a copy of a work, either directly or by means of a film, slide, television image, or any other device or process or, in the case of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to show individual images nonsequentially.

Distinctive: Able to identify and distinguish a single source of goods or services. Suggestive, arbitrary, and fanciful trademarks are inherently distinctive.

Divisional Application: A later application for an independent or distinct invention, carved out of a non-provisional application (including a nonprovisional application resulting from an international application or international design application), an international application designating the United States, or an international design application designating the United States and disclosing and claiming only subject matter disclosed in the earlier or parent application, is known as a divisional application.

Divisional Patent Application: A type of patent application that is divided into a subset of claims from a parent application and shares the same priority date as the parent patent application.

Divulgation: Non-Confidential written or verbal disclosure of specific and critical aspects of an invention or display or distribution of samples of the invention such that its make-up is discernable. Will result in the forfeiture of foreign patents.

DMCA Compliance: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) amendment to the U.S. Copyright Act requires certain compliance measure for entities wishing to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions.  For more information, see our DMCA Compliance page.  

DNS: Domain Name Service.

DO: Designated Office is the national Office or intergovernmental organization acting for the Contracting State designated by the applicant under Chapter I of the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

DOC: Department of Commerce.

Docket: A list of patents, trademarks, copyrights, and domain names along with deadlines associated with the various docket entries.  

Doctrine of Equivalents: A patent law doctrine that extends patent protection beyond literal infringement where the accused instrument contains elements or features that are substantially equivalent to those described in the patent claims.

Domain Litigation: Litigation over the rights associated with a domain name like ownership, infringement of a registered trademark, and domain name squatting.  For more information, see our Domain Name Litigation page.  

Domain Name Acquisition: The process to obtain a domain name registration.  For more information, see our Domain Name Acquisition page.  

Domain Name Indemnification & Indemnity Agreements: Agreements that provide indemnification in transactions involving domain names.  For more information, see our Domain Name Indemnification & Indemnity Agreements page.  

Domain Theft: Theft of a domain name registration, often through fraudulent access to the account holder for the registration.  For more information, see our Domain Name Theft page.  

Domestic Benefit Claim: A claim for the benefit of the filing date of a prior-filed provisional application, nonprovisional application, international (PCT) application designating the United States, or international design application designating the United States.

Domestic Representative: An individual or entity appointed to represent a foreign applicant or registrant in trademark matters before a national trademark office.

Domicile Address (trademarks): The place where an individual applicant resides and intends to be their principal home. Or, for an applicant that is a juristic entity, the principal place of business (i.e., headquarters) where the entity's senior executives or officers ordinarily direct and control the entity's activities.

Double Patenting: A patent law concept where patent protection is sought for the same invention in more than one patent application.  

Drawing: A depiction of the trademark you want to register or an aspect or embodiment of an invention (patent) included in an application.

Drawing (patent): Patent drawings must show every feature of the invention as specified in the claims. Omission of drawings may cause an application to be considered incomplete but are only required if drawings are necessary for the understanding of the subject matter sought to be patented.

Drawing (trademarks): A depiction of the trademark sought to be registered, which must be included in an application.

DRM: Data Reference Model (also known as a "data and information reference model) describes the data and information that support program and line operations.

DTD: Document Type Definition is a format specification file that accompanies documents prepared according to SGML (standard generalized markup language), including XML (extensible markup language).

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E “EA” to “Extension Request”

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EA: Enterprise Architecture.

EAI: Enterprise Application Integration.

EAST: Examiner Automated Search Tools is a system used by patent examiners within the USPTO.

EBC: Electronic Business Center assists customers with filing their electronic application submissions.

eComm: Electronic Commerce Portal.

E-Commerce Agreements: Agreements relating to e-commerce such as privacy policies, website agreements, and terms of use.  For more information, see our E-Commerce Agreements page.  

e-Commerce: Electronic commerce, the buying and selling of goods or services over the Internet.  

eDAN: Electronic Desktop Application Navigator.

EDS: Enterprise Directory Services.

EDW: Enterprise Data Warehouse.

Effective Filing Date: A date used to determine patentability based on the earliest application that adequately describes the invention, which may include a chain of patents and patent applications such as provisional patent applications.  

EFP: Electronic Filing Partnership.

EFS: Electronic Filing System

EFS-ABX: a new software client for electronic authoring of patent applications.

EFS-Web: a web-based patent application and document submission solution that utilizes standard web-based screens and prompts.

EFT: Electronic Funds Transfer.

e-Gov: Electronic Government.

Election (PCT): The filing of the Demand constitutes the election of all the Contracting States which are designated and are bound by Chapter II and in which the applicant intends to use the results of the international preliminary examination.

Electronic File: The electronic file record in which the USPTO maintains patent application documents is referred to as an image file wrapper. The electronic file record is the official record of the patent application.

Electronic File Wrapper: a system that provides a way to access electronic copies of the correspondence, documents and other pertinent records used in considering a particular case.

Electronic System for Trademark Trials and Appeals (ESTTA): System used to submit all filings for Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) proceedings.

Element: A component of a patent claim.

Embodiment: A specific description or application of an idea, concept, or invention, which may not be limiting to the scope of the patent.  

Employment, Non-Disclosure, & Non-Compete Agreements: Agreements setting forth obligations in employment relationships relating to disclosure of confidential information and competition post-employment.  For more information, see our Employment, Non-Disclosure, & Non-Compete Agreements page.  

Enablement: A requirement to obtain a patent that the specification provide sufficient disclosure so that someone skilled in the art could practice the invention without undue  experimentation.

Enforceability of Patent: Patents are presumed to be valid and enforceable unless shown by clear and convincing evidence to be invalid.  

Ensnarement Defense: A strategy in patent litigation where the scope of the patent’s claims cover prior art, which invalidates the claim.  

EO: Elected Office is the national Office or intergovernmental organization of or acting for the Contracting State elected by the applicant under Chapter II of the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

ePAS: Electronic Patent Assignment System.

EPO: European Patent Office

ESD: Examination Support Document.

Establishment: The act of forming something or setting it up for a specific purpose or function.

Estoppel in Patent Law: A principle of patent law that one cannot claim rights to a scope of the claiming previously disclaimed during patent prosecution.  

ESTTA: Electronic System for Trademark Trials and Appeals.

eTAS: Electronic Trademark Assignment System.

ETC: Emerging Technology Center.

ETD: Enterprise Training Division.

eTEAS: Electronic Trademark Examination Application System.

EU: European Union.

Ex Parte Appeal: An appeal where the appeal board reviews the patent examiner’s decision without the other party present.

Ex Parte Proceeding: Proceeding at the USPTO involving only a single trademark owner, no third parties.

Ex Parte Quayle: An Ex-Parte office action typically states that an application will be allowable with only minor corrections, such as drawing corrections, typos, and formatting fixes. In an ex-Parte Qualye actions, no new rejections are made and applicant’s response is limited to the non-substantive amendments.

Ex Parte Reexamination: At any time during the enforceability of a patent a person may file a request for the USPTO to conduct a second examination of any claim of the patent on the basis of prior art patents or printed publications that person states to be pertinent and applicable to the patent and believes to have a bearing on the patentability (see 37 CFR 1.501). In order for the request for reexamination to be granted, a substantial new question of patentability must be present regarding at least one patent claim.

Examination Copy: A copy of an international application filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty maintained by the International Preliminary Examining Authority.

Examiner’s Amendment: An amendment to a trademark or patent application made by an examining attorney.

Examining Attorney: An attorney employed by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPT)), who examines either patent or trademark applications.  

Exclusive Right: The power or privilege a party has under IP law (patent, trademark, and copyright) to exclude others from certain actions.

Excusable Nonuse: A trademark law defense where nonuse of a trademark is deemed acceptable under certain circumstances.

Expedited Examination of Design Applications: A procedure for expedited examination of a design application, 37 CFR 1.155.

Expired (patent): A patent that is no longer in force due to the termination of its patent term or for failure to timely pay a maintenance fee.

Expired Registration: Trademark registration that is no longer active, depriving the owner of the benefits from a federal registration.

Express Abandonment: A statement by an applicant or registrant indicating the voluntary abandonment of a patent or trademark application or registration.

Express Mail (patent): Effective July 28, 2013, the United States Postal Service (USPS) changed the name of "Express Mail" to "Priority Mail Express®."

Express Mail Mailing Label: patent correspondence delivered to the USPTO via the "Express Mail Post Office to Addressee" service of the United States Postal Service (USPS), which is considered filed in the Office on the date of deposit with the USPS, shown by the "date-in" on the "Express Mail" mailing label.

Extension Request: A request for additional time to meet a deadline, typically submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office or an examiner.  

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F “Fair Use” to “FY”

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Fair Use: Allows trademarks and copyrighted materials to be used for certain purposes without violating rights, which can be asserted as a defense to trademark infringement and copyright infringement claims.  

Fair Use of Copyright: A doctrine allowing limited use of copyrighted material without permission for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, or education.

False Advertising: An advertisement considered to be false or misleading to consumers.  

False Advertising Litigation: Litigation, typically under the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. Section 1125, involving alleged false statements made in commerce.  For more information, see our False Advertising page.  

False Marking of Patent: Marking a product with a patent number that does not cover the product.  This can occur when a patent expires and the marking is not removed.  

Famous Trademarks under Federal Law: Trademarks that qualify as famous under 15 U.S.C. Section 1125(c) of the Lanham Act.  Examples include McDonald’s Golden Arches and Nike’s Swoosh.  

Fanciful Trademark: A trademark consisting of a made-up word or phrase that has no meaning other than as a trademark and does not describe the qualities of the goods or service for which the mark acts as the source identifier.  

FASAB: Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board.

FAST: First Action System for Trademarks.

FDC: Final Data Capture is when the issue fee is paid and all other requirements have been met (e.g., drawings) for issuance as a patent, the application is then electronically exported to the Final Data Capture (FDC) stage.

FEA: Federal Enterprise Architecture.

Federal Circuit: A specialized appellate court with nationwide jurisdiction in various areas, including patent law.

Federal Registration: A trademark that has been registered with a federal register.

Federal Trademark Registration: A trademark registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, which enjoys rights such as nation-wide priority and certain presumptions.  

Fee: An amount of money charged for a particular service or product supplied by the USPTO.

FFMIA: Federal Financial Management Improvement Act.

FICC: Federal Identity Credentialing Committee.

Field of Use: The area of technology or business where the licensed technology will be used, marketed or sold. Specified in a License Agreement.

File Wrapper: Image file wrapper

Filing Basis: The legal basis for filing an application to register a trademark.  Typically, trademark applications are filed based on use or intent to use in the future.  

Filing Date: The date the Copyright Office or the United States Patent and Trademark Office receives an application with the subject matter and all required materials.  This could include a required filing or application fee.  

Filing Receipt (patent): A correspondence mailed to the attorney or agent, if any, otherwise to the applicant, at the correspondence address of record for each application filed which meets the minimum requirements to receive a filing date. The filing receipt includes the application number, filing date, a confirmation number, a suggested class in the U.S. Patent Classification System, and the number of an art unit where the application is likely to be examined.

Filing Refusal: Also known as a final Office action, which makes "final" any outstanding refusals or requirements. A proper response to a final Office action is a) compliance with the requirements or b) appeal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

Final Office Action: Office action that restates outstanding issues that an applicant couldn't overcome in their response to a previous office action. When an applicant receives a final office action, they can attempt to resolve the remaining issues, file an appeal with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, or both. Otherwise, the application will be abandoned.

Final Office Action: (final rejection) An office action on the second or any subsequent examination or consideration by an examiner that is intended to close the prosecution of a non-provisional patent application.

First Action Interview Program: A USPTO initiative allowing applicants to discuss their application with an examiner before the first official action.

FISMA: Federal Information Security Management Act.

Fixed: A tangible medium of expression when its embodiment in a copy or phonorecord, by or under the authority of the author, is sufficiently permanent or stable to permit it to be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated for a period of more than transitory duration. A work consisting of sounds, images, or both, that are being transmitted, is "fixed" for purposes of this title if a fixation of the work is being made simultaneously with its transmission.

FOIA: Freedom of Information Act.

Foreign-Domiciled Trademark Applicant, Registrant, or Party: Individual or entity whose domicile isn't located in the United States or its territories. An individual's domicile is the place the person resides and intends to be the person's principal home. An entity's domicile is its principal place of business (headquarters) where the entity's senior executives or officers ordinarily direct and control the entity's activities.

Foreign Priority Claim: Under certain conditions and on fulfilling certain requirements, an application for a patent filed in the United States may be entitled to the benefit of the filing date of a prior application filed in a foreign country.

Foreign Registration Basis: Legal basis that can be used to file a U.S. trademark application if you have a foreign registration in your country of origin for the same trademark with the same goods and services. This filing basis is also called Section 44(e).

Formal Patent Drawings: Standardized illustrations compliant with certain regulations used for patent applications.

Forms: Forms are provided as either official or unofficial (optional) formats to facilitate providing all information required to initiate desired procedures or respond to official procedural correspondence. Control numbers are assigned to identify each form and customers are usually instructed to locate forms by short form numbers rather than lengthy form titles.

FR: Federal Register.

Franchising & Franchise Agreements: Agreements between a franchisor on one hand and a franchisee on the other.  For more information, see our Franchising & Franchise Agreements page.  

Fraud Litigation: A form of commercial litigation involving a false statement made to induce another to rely upon it to his/her detriment.  For more information, see our Fraud Litigation page.  

Freedom of Information Act: 5 USC 552, allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government.

FTAA: Free Trade Agreement of the Americas.

Functional Patent Claim: A type of patent claim that defines an invention based on its function or effect.

FWC: File Wrapper Continuing application - a continuation, continuation-in-part, or divisional application filed under 37 CFR 1.62*, which uses the specification, drawings and oath or declaration from a prior nonprovisional application, which is complete as defined by 37 CFR 1.51(a)(1).

FY: Fiscal year. The federal fiscal year begins on October 1 and ends on September 30 of the following calendar year.

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G “GAU” to “GSA”

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GAU: Group Art Unit.

Generic Misspellings: A strategy to avoid trademark infringement by misspelling a product’s or service’s name.  

Generic Term: Common, everyday name for goods or services. Generic terms don't indicate source and can't function as trademarks, so they are not federally registrable or protectable.

Generic Terms (Trademarks): Terms used by the general public to identify the type of product or service as opposed to the source of the product or service.

Genericide: When a trademark becomes generic and no longer protectable.  Examples include Aspirin, Heroin, Cellophane, Butterscotch, Touch-Tone, Escalator, Trampoline, Thermos, Dry Ice, Kerosene, Laundromat, Linoleum, App Store, Xerox, Yo-Yo, Zip Code, Zipper, TV Dinner, and Video Tape. 

Geneva Phonograms Convention: The Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms, concluded at Geneva, Switzerland, on October 29, 1971.

GI: Geographical Indications.

GICP: General Information Concerning Patents.

Goods and Services: What a trademark is used in connection with. Goods are products, while services are activities performed for consumers.

GPRA: Government Performance and Results Act.

Grant Date: The date a patent is issued by the USPTO. The date that patent rights can be exercised. U.S. patents are always issued on Tuesdays.

Grantable Petition: A request filed with the patent office to convert a provisional patent application to a non-provisional patent.

Grounds for Rejection (Trademarks): Reasons why a trademark application may be rejected, such as likelihood of confusion, genericness, or descriptiveness.

Group: A unit of several Group Art Units in the manufacturing, electrical, chemical, or design area managed by a Group Director. Groups are now referred to as a Technology Center, or TC.

Group Art Unit: A unit of examiners at the USPTO that specializes in examining a particular type of patent application.

GSA: General Services Administration, an agency of the U. S. government.

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H “Haar Doctrine” to “Home Copy”

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Haar Doctrine: A principle established by the European Patent Office to prevent an applicant from filing multiple requests for examination and appeal.

Hague Agreement: Refers to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs adopted at Geneva, Switzerland, on July 2, 1999. The United States became a Contracting Party to the Hague Agreement on May 13, 2015.

Hague Agreement Regulations: Refers to the Common Regulations Under the 1999 Act and the 1960 Act of the Hague Agreement.

Hatch-Waxman Act: US legislation establishing procedures for obtaining approval for generic versions of patented drugs.

Having: A transitional phrase used when defining the scope of a claim. Transitional phrases such as "having" must be interpreted in light of the specification to determine whether open or closed claim language is intended.

High-Tech Patent Litigation: Lawsuits involving high-tech industries, often with complex technical issues and large amounts of damages at stake.

Hold Harmless: Hold harmless agreements can be synonymous with indemnity agreements.

Holding Company: A company created to control other companies and hold their assets such as intellectual property (IP), usually for tax or strategic purposes.

Home Copy: A copy of an international application filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) maintained by the receiving office where the international application was filed.

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I “IAC” to “ITU”

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IAC: Inventors Assistance Center.

IB: International Bureau, the administrative arm of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

IC: International Class.

id.: Short for "ibid", meaning same as previously cited

IDC: Initial Data Capture is the first phase of the publication process for a patent where the patent file is electronically captured. It takes approximately six weeks from the date that the allowed file is received for the completion of the Initial Data Capture of the application.

IDE: Integrated Development Environment.

Identification of Goods and/or Services: A description of the specific goods and/or services associated with a trademark or service mark, provided in a trademark application to specify the scope of protection sought.

IDS: Information Disclosure Statement, a document submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) by an applicant to disclose relevant prior art or information known to the applicant that may affect the patentability of the invention.  Often, an IDS is used to meet an applicant’s and his/her counsel’s duty of candor.  

IFW: Image file wrapper is an electronic version of a patent application, including image and/or text versions of the bibliographic information, all papers as filed, and all office actions and correspondence related to that application.

Illegal Gray Market Goods Enforcement: Typically, gray market goods sales occur when an authorized reseller purchases a genuine good and then attempts to sell it through a prohibited channel.  For more information, see our Illegal Gray Market Goods Enforcement page.  

Image File Wrapper (IFW): An electronic system for storage and maintenance of records associated with patent applications. All applications are electronically scanned and loaded into the image file wrapper system upon filing. The image file wrapper contains a complete record of proceedings in the USPTO.

Impersonation & Username Squatting: A strategy to divert sales from a trademark owner or famous person by using their username on social media or pretending to be someone else.  For more information, see our Impersonation & Username Squatting page.  

Importation Patent Infringement: The act of bringing a patented invention into the United States without permission from the patent owner.

Improvement: Intellectual Property developed while utilizing existing Intellectual Property or Intellectual Property developed that relies on existing patented Intellectual Property.

Income Sharing: Proportion of income to be distributed to each party in a licensing or commercialization agreement.

Incontestability: A legal status conferred on a trademark registration after a certain period of continuous and exclusive use, during which the mark becomes immune to certain challenges to its validity, such as claims of descriptiveness.  

Incontestable Trademark: A registered trademark that can only be canceled for very limited reasons, such as fraud on the United States Patent and Trademark Office.  

Indemnity & Hold Harmless Agreements: Agreement relating to where one party agrees to indemnify and hold harmless another party.  These provisions are common in commercial agreements.  For more information, see our Indemnity & Hold Harmless Agreements page.  

Independent Claim: A patent claim that does not depend on any other patent claim.  

Indirect Infringement: A type of infringement that occurs when a party contributes to or induces another to infringe a patent, trademark, or copyright.  Indirect infringement usually requires an act of direct infringement by a third-party and a relationship between the third party and the alleged indirect infringer.  

Industrial Property: A type of intellectual property that includes inventions, patents, trademarks, and industrial designs.

Inequitable Conduct: A doctrine of patent law that renders a patent unenforceable due to misrepresentations to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or failure to disclose information material to patenting.  This doctrine requires an intent to deceive.  

Informal Application: A trademark application that's been filed but doesn't meet requirements.

Information Disclosure Statement (IDS): See definition of IDS above.  

Infringement: The unauthorized use, reproduction, or exploitation of intellectual property rights, such as patents, trademarks, or copyrights, without the permission of the rights holder.

Injunction: A court order that either prohibits a party from taking certain actions or requires them to take certain actions.

Insurance Coverage Disputes: A dispute between an insurer, such as an insurance company, and the insured typically over whether a loss is covered or not.  For more information, see our Insurance Coverage Disputes page.  

INTA: International Trademark Association, a global association of trademark owners and professionals dedicated to promoting and protecting trademarks and related intellectual property rights.

Intellectual Property (IP): Intangible assets including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets, protected by law to incentivize innovation and creativity.  IP rights typically confer exclusivity and the right to exclude others from using the IP.  

Intellectual Property Audits & Due Diligence: IP Audits are frequently used in the due diligence process to determine the extent of IP assets and any gaps in coverage, which would allow a competitor entry into the marketplace for a feature or piece of technology.  For more information, see our Intellectual Property Audits & Due Diligence page.  

Intellectual Property Indemnification & Indemnity Agreements: Agreements that provide indemnification and possibly a right to a defense against third-party intellection property infringement claims.  For more information, see our Intellectual Property Indemnification & Indemnity Agreements page.  

Intellectual Property Infringement: Unauthorized use of Intellectual Property.

Intellectual Property Rights: All rights associated with an intangible asset owned by a company or person and protected against use without consent.

Intent to Use: A legal declaration by a trademark applicant that they have a bona fide intention to use in the future a trademark in commerce.

Intent to Use (ITU) Basis: Legal basis that can be used to file a trademark application if the applicant has not started using the trademark in commerce, but has a bona fide intention to do so. An ITU trademark application cannot actually be registered until the applicant can demonstrate using it in commerce and file the proper TEAS form. This filing basis is also called Section 1(b).

Inter Partes Proceeding: Proceeding at the USPTO involving a trademark owner and at least one other third party.

Inter Partes Reexamination: A proceeding before the United States Patent and Trademark Office where the validity of one or more claims of a patent are challenged and the party initiating the proceeding has the right to participate.  For more information, see our Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceedings page.  

Inter Partes Review (IPR): A trial proceeding held by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) to review the validity of a patent.

Interference Proceedings in Patents: A proceeding before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to determine the priority of inventions between two or more parties claiming the same invention in their patent applications or overlapping inventions.  

Interinstitutional Agreement: An agreement between multiple universities or institutions to conduct research or technology transfer activities. Typically established when conducting joint research projects.

International Agreement: the Universal Copyright Convention; the Geneva Phonograms Convention; the Berne Convention; the WTO Agreement; the WIPO Copyright Treaty; the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty; and any other copyright treaty to which the United States is a party.

International Application: A patent application filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) that seeks protection for an invention in multiple countries simultaneously.

International Application (patents): An application for a patent filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

International Application (trademarks): Allows a trademark owner to seek registration in any of the countries that have joined the Madrid Protocol by filing a single application.

International Application Number: The unique number assigned to a patent application when it is filed, consisting of a three-letter code PCT, a slant, the two-letter code of the receiving office, a four-digit year indicating the year in which the papers were first received, a slant, and a six-digit serial number. (e.g., PCT/SE2004/000001").

International Application under PCT: An application filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) that allows simultaneous filing in multiple countries.

International Class (IC): A classification system used by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for trademark applications to the claimed categorize goods or services.

International Design Application: An application filed under the Hague Agreement.

International Preliminary Report on Patentability: (Chapter I of the PCT) A preliminary, non-binding report on whether the claimed invention appears to be patentable. It is issued by the International Bureau on behalf of the International Searching Authority under Chapter I of the PCT where an international preliminary examination report has not been or will not be established.

International Publication Number: A number assigned to each published international application consisting of the two-letter code WO followed by a four-digit indication of the year of publication, a slant, and a six-digit serial number. (e.g., "WO 2004/123456").

International Trademark Association (INTA): Global association of brand owners and professionals dedicated to supporting trademarks and complementary intellectual property.

Interstate Commerce: A requirement for federal trademark rights, commercial trade, traffic, or transportation between different states within the United States as opposed to commerce only conducted within one State.  

Invention: A new, useful, and non-obvious process, product, composition of matter, or improvement thereof, protected by the U.S. Patent Act, 35 U.S.C. Section 101, et seq.

Invention Assignment Agreement: A contract between an inventor and another party, transferring ownership of the invention and associated intellectual property.

Inventive Step: A requirement in patent law that an invention must not be obvious to a person skilled in the art.

Inventor: An individual who conceives of a new and inventive idea or concept and contributes to the creation of an invention, typically related to patent law, where the inventor must be identified in the patent application.  

Inventor’s Notebook: Notes or a notebook kept by an inventor that records the steps taken and experimentation conducted to provide evidence of dates of conception, reduction to practice, and invention of a patent.  

IP: Intellectual Property.

IPA: Internet Purchasing Application.

IPEA: International Preliminary Examining Authority - either a national Office or an intergovernmental organization whose tasks include the establishment of international preliminary reports on patentability (Chapter II of the PCT).

IPER: International Preliminary Examination Report (Form PCT/IPEA/409) - produced by an International Preliminary Examining Authority, is a preliminary and non-binding opinion on whether the invention claimed in an international application appears to be novel, to involve an inventive step (to be non-obvious), and to be industrially applicable.

IPLA: International Patent Legal Administration (formerly PCT Legal Administration) - educates and assists the patent community, develops policy and resolves legal issues relating to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs and other international cooperative patent projects or agreements, such as the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH).

IPO: Intellectual Property Owners Association.

IPR: Intellectual Property Rights.

IRB: Investment Review Board.

ISA: International Search Authority - either a national Office or an intergovernmental organization whose tasks include the establishment of international search reports and written opinions of the International Searching Authority.

ISR: International Search Report, a report identifying relevant prior art and issued by an International Searching Authority (ISA) as part of the international patent application process under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

Issue Date: The date on which a patent or trademark registration is officially granted or issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).  

IT: Information Technology

ITU: Intent to Use, which can establish trademark rights in an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), if the applicant has a bona fide intent to use the trademark in commerce in the future.  

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J “JCCT” to “Junior User”

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JCCT: Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade is an expansive annual dialogue, usually held in the late fall, that addresses commercial and trade issues between the U.S. and China. JCCT is co-chaired by the USPTO with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Joint Application: A patent application jointly filed by two or more individuals or entities who are co-inventors of the same invention.

Joint Inventor: An inventor who is named with at least one other inventor in a patent application, wherein each inventor contributes to the conception (creation) of the invention set forth in at least one claim in a patent application.

Joint Inventors: Patent law terminology applied when two or more people co-created an innovation.

Joint Mark: A trademark owned jointly by two or more individuals or entities, indicating shared ownership or collaboration in the goods or services associated with the mark.

Joint Ownership: Ownership rights shared by two or more persons or entities.

jpg: JPG file type extension or JPEG – "Joint Photographic Experts Group" - is one of several digital image formats that are viewable in web browsers. JPEG image files are encoded using a standard for file compression (making the files smaller).

JPO: Japan Patent Office.

JPTOS: Journal of the Patent and Trademark Office Society - a quarterly-published journal writing on topics of patents, trademarks, and copyrights.

Junior Registrant: The holder of a trademark registration who filed for the mark after another party (the “Senior Registrant”), who may have superior rights, and also claims rights to the mark.

Junior User: A party who begins using a trademark after another party (the senior user) has already begun using the mark.  

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K “Key Characteristics of Design Patents” to “KSA”

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Key Characteristics of Design Patents: Design patents protect only the non-functional, ornamental design of a product.

Kind Codes: WIPO Standard ST. 16 codes (kind codes) include a letter, and in many cases a number, used to distinguish the kind of patent document (e.g., publication of an application for a utility patent (patent application publication), patent, plant patent application publication, plant patent, or design patent) and the level of publication (e.g., first publication, second publication, or corrected publication).

KIPO: Korean Intellectual Property Office.

Knock-Out Reference: Prior art, often falling within 35 U.S.C. Section 102, that is so close to the invention being searched that seeking patent protection would likely be futile.  

Knock-Out Search: A type of trademark search to quickly find existing trademarks that may prevent registration of the potential mark being searched.  

Know How: Information related to Intellectual Property, innovations, improvements, processes, formulas, information, trade secrets, etc.

Knowledge: Knowledge to possess information or knowledge.  

KSA: Knowledge, skills, and abilities (as pertaining to job qualifications).

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L “Label Requirement for Trademarks” to “Luxury Brand Protection”

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Label Requirement for Trademarks: The requirement that a trademark should be displayed with appropriate symbols or words indicating its status as a registered trademark.

Laches: An affirmative defense that the rightsholder engaged in an unreasonable delay in pursuing a right or claim such that it prejudiced an alleged infringer such that the rights can no longer be asserted by the IP owner.   

Language Restriction (Patent Applications): Restrictions on language usage in patent applications, such as the requirement to use English or provide translations.

Lawyer: An attorney licensed to practice law who is qualified to represent clients in legal matters before courts and administrative agencies.

Leading Trademark Registration Firms: Companies that specialize in assisting clients with registering trademarks, providing services such as trademark searches and filing applications.

Legal Entity: An organization or person with legal rights.

Legally Abandoned Patent: A patent application that has been abandoned due to failure to respond to a USPTO office action or other non-compliance.

Letters Patent: A document issued by a government authority, such as the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) granting an official patent. 

License: Permission granted to a third party, which allows for usage of intellectual property rights.

License Agreement: An agreement that provides certain rights to intellectual property to a third party under certain terms and conditions, like scope, geographic territory, and term.  

License Issue Fee: Consideration given as an initial lump payment to the licensor.

Licensee: The purchaser or acquirer of license rights to a piece of Intellectual Property.

Licensing: The mechanism to develop Intellectual Property and make it available for public use while generating revenue.

Licensing of Intellectual Property: The process of granting permission for another party to use intellectual property under specified terms and conditions.

Licensor: The owner of intellectual property granting rights to the licensee. 

LIE: Legal instruments examiner is a position classification for USPTO employees charged with

Likelihood of Confusion: In trademark law, the possibility that consumers may mistakenly believe that goods or services emanate from a source different from their actual source because of similarities between the marks; overlap in customer base, channels of trade, and forms of marking; or intentional copying, for example.    

Literary Works: In copyright law, literary works are a special kind of creative work that is  expressed in written or printed form, including novels, poems, plays, screenplays, and other literary compositions protected by copyright.

Litigation: A lawsuit or the process of carrying one out.

Live Application or Registration (Trademarks): Active application or registration, which can be used to bar registration of a trademark in a new application if the trademarks conflict.

Loan Or Credit Agreement: A legally binding contract between a borrower and a lender that outlines the terms and conditions for borrowing money, including the loan amount, interest rates, payment schedule, repayment terms, fees, and consequences of default. Also known as a lending agreement, financing agreement, or credit agreement, it regulates the mutual promises and obligations made by each party and serves as the legal framework for the lending relationship.

Luxury Brand Protection: Protection of trademarks and copyrights owned by luxury brands.  Often involves anti-counterfeiting measures.  For more information, see our Luxury Brand Protection page.  

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M “Machine-Readable Recordable Medium Patents” to “Multiple Dependent Claim”

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Machine-Readable Recordable Medium Patents: Patents related to technology that allows computer programs or data to be stored on physical media like CDs or DVDs.

Madrid Protocol: The Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks, an international treaty administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that allows trademark owners to register their marks in multiple countries through a single application.

Madrid Protocol Basis: Legal basis that allows trademark owners to use the Madrid International Trademark System to apply for a U.S. registration. This system allows trademark owners to register and manage trademarks worldwide. This filing basis is also called Section 66(a).

Maintenance Fees: Fees required to maintain the validity and enforceability of a patent or trademark registration.

Mark: A word, phrase, symbol, design, or combination thereof used to identify and distinguish the goods or services of one seller or from those of others in the marketplace.  Use of protectable trademarks in commerce generate goodwill for the mark owner.  

Markman Hearing: A hearing to determine the meaning and scope of patent claims, often used in patent infringement cases.

Markush Doctrine: A legal principle allowing patent claims to encompass a group or series of alternative elements or components.

MARS: Machine-Assisted Reference Section.

Mask Work: A type of intellectual property law protected under the U.S. Copyright Act, that involves three-dimensional layout or topography used in semiconductor chips.

Master Service Agreements: A common agreement between a vendor and a customer that typically references a statement of work (SOW) for each additional project. For more information, see our Master Service Agreements page.

Material Alteration: Amending the drawing of a trademark to the point that it no longer creates the impression of being essentially the same as the trademark in your trademark application or registration. Amendments that materially alter the trademark are usually not allowed at any point after the application is submitted.

Material Recipient: Any entity that takes delivery of Tangible Research Property in accordance with a Material Transfer Agreement.

Material Transfer Agreement: Also called an "MTA", is used when an inventor wants to share either patented or unpatented innovations with an academic colleague who wishes to utilize it for research purposes.

Means Plus Function: A patent claim that claims an element by the function it achieves as opposed to specific structure of the element.  

Means-Plus-Function Claim: A type of claim in a patent that defines an invention by its function rather than its structure.

Mere Descriptiveness: The grounds for refusing to register a trademark because it merely describes some aspect of the goods or services without identifying or distinguishing the source of those goods or services. Descriptive marks must have acquired secondary meaning to be protectable.

Merely Descriptive: Where a trademark merely describes the good or service and is generally not protectable or enforceable without a showing of secondary meaning.  

Mergers & Acquisitions: Used in corporate law, where one or more entities are acquired or merged together.  For more information, see our Mergers & Acquisitions page.  

Micro Entity: An applicant for patent that enjoys a 75% reduction in certain patent fees upon establishing micro entity status, either by certifying a gross income below a prescribed limit (see Form PTO/SB/15A) or by certifying that the applicant's employer is an institution of higher education (see Form PTO/SB/15B).

Misappropriation: Where one party takes the intellectual property of another.  This term is commonly used to refer to trade secret misappropriation, but applies broadly.  For more information, see our Misappropriation page.  

MiTEAS: Madrid International Trademark Electronic Application Submission.

Motion Pictures: Audiovisual works consisting of a series of related images which, when shown in succession, impart an impression of motion, together with accompanying sounds, if any.

MPEP: Manual of Patent Examining Procedure.

Multiple Dependent Claim: A patent claim that depends on two or more other claims.

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N “National Institutes of Health” to “NPL Non-Patent Literature (patent)”

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National Institutes of Health: The primary Federal agency that conducts and supports medical research. A division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

National Stage Application: A patent application filed in a national or regional patent office following the international phase of a Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) application, seeking examination and approval in individual countries or regions.

Native American Tribal Insignia: Official insignia of a Native American tribe. Tribes may submit their insignias to be entered in our database to aid us in examining trademark applications, so we don't register a trademark that suggests a false connection with their tribe.

New Matter: Information added to a patent application after its initial filing that was not originally disclosed.  This practice is generally not allowable.  

New Venture: In the realm of Intellectual Property, a new venture or start up is a company established to commercialize the technology or innovation that was created, often in conjunction with a research university's technology licensing office.

NIPLECC: National Intellectual Property Law Enforcement Coordination Council. NIPLECC is an interagency group responsible for coordinating the U.S.' domestic and international intellectual property enforcement activities.

NOA: Notice of Allowance, an official notification issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) indicating that a patent application has been allowed for issuance as a patent, subject to payment of required fees.

NOCC: Network Operations Control Center.

Non-Compete Litigation: Litigation involving an employer and ex-employee generally over a claim the ex-employee took confidential information to compete after the employment ended.  For more information, see our Non-Compete Litigation page.  

Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA): An agreement that restricts the use and disclosure of confidential information and trade secrets.  For more information, see our Non-Disclosure Agreements page.  

Non-Final Office Action: An office action issued by a patent examiner during the examination of a patent application, typically identifying objections or rejections that must be resolved before an application may be allowed.  

Non-Final Office Action (Rejection): An office action made by the examiner where the applicant is entitled to reply and request reconsideration and/or further examination, with or without making an amendment.

Non-Lawyer: a person who is not a licensed attorney or lawyer.

Non-obviousness Requirement: The requirement that an invention must not be obvious to a person skilled in the art in order to be patented.

Non-Patent Literature (NPL): Documents other than patents or patent applications that can be used as prior art in a patent matter.  

Non-Profit Organization: For purposes of small entity determination per MPEP 509.02 - (1) a university or other institution of higher education located in any country; (2) an organization of the type described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (26 USC 501(c)(3)) and exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 USC 501(a)); (3) any nonprofit scientific or educational organization qualified under a nonprofit organization statute of a state of this country (35 USC 201(i)); or (4) any nonprofit organization located in a foreign country which would qualify as a nonprofit organization under paragraphs (e) (2) or (3) of MPEP 509.02 if it were located in this country.

Non-Provisional Application: The final patent application.

Nonprovisional Patent Application: A patent application filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that includes a complete disclosure of the invention.  A nonprovisional patent application may be filed directly as a stand-a-lone application or it may claim priority through another patent application such as a previously filed provisional patent application.

Non-Responsive Amendment: An amendment filed by the applicant that does not fully respond to the examiner's office action in accordance with 37 CFR 1.111.

Non-Trivial Problem: A problem that cannot be solved by laypersons or non-experts, and therefore may be considered for patent protection.

Normal Publication: regular 18-month publication or redacted publication.

Notice of Abandonment: An official notification issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) indicating that a patent application or trademark application has been abandoned or deemed abandoned due to the applicant’s failure to respond to an office action or meet other requirements within the prescribed time period.  

Notice of Allowability: An official notification issued by a patent examiner indicating that a patent application is allowable and ready for issuance as a patent, subject to payment of required fees and completion of any outstanding formalities.

Notice of Allowance (Trademarks): An official notice from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that a trademark application has been accepted and will register upon payment of the required fees.  

Notice of Allowance (Patents): An official notification issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) indicating that a patent application has been allowed for issuance as a patent, subject to payment of required fees.

Notice of Allowance and Fees Due NOA: a notification to the applicant that they are entitled to a patent under the law and requesting payment of a specified issue fee (and possibly a publication fee as well) within three months (non-extendable) from the mailing date of the notice of allowance.

Notice of Publication: An official notification issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) indicating that a patent application has been or will be published after a certain period making the application available to the public or that a trademark will be published in the Official Gazette.  

Notice of References Cited: An official notification issued by a patent examiner indicating the prior art references cited during the examination of a patent application.

Notification of Refusal: A notification sent by an office of a designated Contracting Party in an international design application refusing the effects of international registration, in whole or in part, in the territory of that Contracting Party, where the conditions for the grant of protection under the law of that Contracting Party are not met in respect of any or all of the designs that are the subject of an international registration.

Novelty: A requirement for patentability that the invention must be new.

Novelty Requirement: The requirement that an invention must be new or different from prior art in order to be patented.

NPL Non-Patent Literature (patent): documents and publications that are not patents or published patent applications but are cited as references for being relevant in a patent prosecution, such as abstracts, scientific journal articles, other scholarly works (e.g., a doctoral thesis) newspapers, magazine articles, etc.

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O “OACS” to “Owner”

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OACS: Office Action Correspondence System is a software program used by patent examiners to generate office actions. The OACS system was phased out and replaced by the Office Correspondence (OC) system during fiscal year (FY) 2018.

Oath: a term very similar to a declaration, but also used to verify information. It identifies the patent application with its applicant and must include 1) name 2) city and state of residence (if U.S.) or 2a) country of residence (if foreign), 3) country of citizenship for each applicant on the patent 4) official mailing address of each applicant on the patent. This document must include a statement of whether the subject of the patent was a sole or joint invention. It must be signed by all inventors and verified by a witness.

OBI: Originating Beneficiary Information is the informational portion of a wire (electronic) transfer of funds. It is a necessary and important element, providing the USPTO information as to why the "wire" was sent, by whom, and how to apply the payment.

OBRA: Omnibus Budget and Reconciliation Act of 1990, which mandated that the USPTO become fully supported by user fees to fund its operations.

Obviousness: The requirement that to qualify for patent protection an invention must not only be new but also sufficiently inventive, i.e., non-obvious to someone with ordinary skill in the area of technology related to the invention.  See 35 U.S.C. Section 103.

Obviousness-Type Double Patenting (ODP): A doctrine that prevents a patent owner from obtaining multiple patents for the same invention.

OC: Office Correspondence is a software program used by patent examiners to generate office actions. The OC system was phased in to replace the current system entitled Office Action Correspondence System (OACS) during fiscal year (FY) 2018.

OED: Office of Enrollment and Discipline, a division within the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) responsible for registering and disciplining patent attorneys and agents practicing before the USPTO.

OEIP: Office of Electronic Information Products.

Office Action: An official communication issued by a patent examiner or trademark examiner during the examination of a patent application or trademark application, identifying issues, objections, or rejections that must be addressed to obtain a patent or trademark registration.  

Office Action Summary (Patent): A written communication from a patent examiner outlining any rejections or objections to claims in a patent application.

Office of Indirect Filing: The office of the applicant's Contracting Party through which an international design application under the Hague Agreement may be filed.

Office of Origin (trademarks): the government trademark office in a country that is a member of the Madrid Protocol. For applicants who file for an extension of protection of an international registration to the United States under Trademark Act Section 66(a), the country of the office of origin is where the applicant is a national, domiciliary, or has a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment.

Office of Patent Application Processing (OPAP): The office that performs all initial processing for new applications to ensure they are ready for animation.

Official Action (Patents): An action taken by a patent examiner, usually in the form of an office action or final rejection, during the examination process.

OG: Official Gazette, a publication issued by a patent office containing official notices, announcements, and information related to patents, trademarks, and other intellectual property matters.

OGC: The Office of the General Counsel is concerned with defense of agency decisions in court and administrative tribunals, internal agency legal advice, and regulation of persons practicing before the USPTO.

OHIM: Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market.

OHR: Office of Human Resources provides the leadership, policies, programs, services and systems necessary to meet the human resources requirements of the United States Patent and Trademark Office workforce.

OIG Office of the Inspector General: Fifty-seven statutory OIGs were created by an act of Congress in 1978 to independently detect fraud or instances of waste, abuse or misuse of federal funds and identify operational deficiencies within each of the Departments.

OIPC: Office of International Patent Cooperation.

OIPE: Office of Initial Patent Examination.

OLIA (superseded): Office for Legislative and International Affairs - currently known as Administrator for External Affairs, composed of Office of International Relations, Office of Congressional Relations, and Office of Enforcement.

OMB: Office of Management and Budget, a branch of The Executive Office of the President.

Online Privacy: Laws and regulations relating to online privacy such as COPPA and GDPR.  For more information, see our Online Privacy page.  

Online Seller Enforcement: Strategies to enforce contractual and intellectual property rights against online sellers. This may involve anti-counterfeiting, gray market goods, and online infringement.  For more information, see our Online Seller Enforcement page.  

Online Sweepstakes & Games: Rules and regulations governing the offering of online sweepstakes and games.  For more information, see our Online Sweepstakes & Games page.  

Online Trademark Search: A search of the USPTO database for registered and pending trademarks, used to determine potential conflicts with a proposed trademark.

OPAP: Office of Patent Application Processing performs initial processing for all new U.S. and PCT applications to ensure that applications are in condition for examination, Pre-Grant Publication, or ready for transmission to the International Bureau.

OPF: Official Personnel File.

OPLA: Office of Patent Legal Administration.

OPM: Office of Personnel Management - an agency of the U. S. government responsible for personnel administration of all federal employees.

Opposition Proceeding: A legal proceeding before TTAB in which parties challenge the validity or registration of a trademark application.  The grounds may include senior use, fraud on the USPTO, and lack of distinctiveness.

Option Agreements: Also called "Option Clauses," may be found within Research Agreements and establishes the right of the university to negotiate a license for Intellectual Property. These agreements are intended to allow a potential licensee to evaluate an invention or technology prior to signing a standard license agreement.

OPR: Formerly, Office of Public Records; now known as Public Records Division (PRD).

Original Application: Original is used in the patent statute and rules to refer to an application which is not a reissue application. An original application may be a first filing or a continuing application.

Original Filing Basis: The legal basis or grounds on which a trademark application is initially filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), such as actual use in commerce, intent to use, or foreign registration.

OTPP: Office of Technical Plans and Policy.

Owner: Person(s) or entity(s) who control the rights to something.

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P “PAC” to “Pubs”

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PAC: The Public Advisory Committee for the USPTO was created by statute in the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 to advise the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO on the management of the patent and the trademark operations.

PAIR: Patent Application Information Retrieval, an online system provided by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for accessing and managing patent application documents, correspondence, and status information.

PALM: Patent Application Locating and Monitoring system is an internal USPTO system that is the source of status information displayed in PAIR.

PAR: Performance and Accountability Report.

Parent Application: An application filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for an invention, from which subsequent applications, such as continuations, divisionals, or continuation-in-part applications, claim priority or benefit.  Foreign patent applications (PCTs) may also be filed through the domestic patent application.  

PASAT: Patent Application Specification Authoring Tool -- no longer used as of 22 August 2004

Paris Convention: An international treaty among member countries that provides protection of industrial property, including patents and trademarks.

Patent: A legal grant issued by the. United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) conferring the exclusive right to make, use, offer for sale, sell, and import the invention covered by the patent.

Patent Agent: An individual licensed to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to represent inventors or applicants in patent matters, including preparing and prosecuting patent applications and conducting patentability searches.  Patent Agents are not licensed attorneys. 

Patent and Trademark Depository Library (PTDL): A library designated by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to provide public access to patent and trademark information, documents, and resources.

Patent And Trademark Office (USPTO): A government agency responsible for granting and administering patents and trademarks within the United States.

Patent Appeal: A legal proceeding for an applicant to challenge the rejection or refusal of a patent application by a patent examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). 

Patent Application: A formal request submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for the grant of a registered patent on an invention.  A Patent Application requires a detailed explanation of the invention and at least one claim. 

Patent Application Number: A unique identifier assigned to a patent application by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). 

Patent Application Publication: The publication of a patent application by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) after a certain period following the filing or priority date, typically 18 months, making the application publicly available before the patent is granted.  

Patent Attorney:  An attorney that is licensed before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT): A treaty that allows an applicant to file a single application that is equivalent to a regular national filing when certain requirements have been fulfilled.

Patent Due Diligence Review: Patent Due Diligence Reviews can be valuable to determine the scope of protection for a patent or group of patents to determine whether any gaps in coverage exist.  The review can also uncover gaps in the chain of title of ownership.  For more information, see our Patent Due Diligence Review page.   

Patent Examiner: An official employed by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).  Patent examiners are responsible for examining patent applications.  

Patent Family: A group of related patent applications or granted patents that share a common priority claim, typically called a “parent application”. 

Patent Indemnification & Indemnity Agreements: Patent Indemnification & Indemnity Agreements provide indemnification and possibly a right to a defense by one party to another in the event of third-party claims. For more information, see our Patent Indemnification & Indemnity Agreements page.  

Patent Indemnification Litigation & Indemnity Disputes: Patent Indemnification & Indemnity Disputes typically involve a conflict regarding whether one party owes indemnification or a right to defend to another party where a third-party claim has arisen For more information, see our Patent Indemnification Litigation & Indemnity Disputes page.  

Patent Infringement: The unauthorized use, manufacture, sale, or importation of a patented invention by a third party without the permission of the patent owner, constituting a violation of the patent holder's exclusive rights.

Patent Infringement Defense: Defenses to a patent infringement claim include invalidity, laches, and statute of limitation, and unenforceability.  For more information, see our Patent Infringement Defense page.  

Patent Infringement Litigation: Legal action taken by a patent owner against someone who is using their patented invention without permission.

Patent Litigation: Litigation involving the assertion of patent rights, ownership of a patent, or a declaratory judgment to determine the validity or enforceability of a patent.  For more information, see our Patent Litigation page.  

Patent Marking: Labeling products with the patent number to inform the public that the product is covered by a patent.  

Patent Misuse: An affirmative defense used in a patent infringement lawsuit claiming that the patentee is attempting to extend the scope of the patent to derive an unjust advantage.

Patent Number: A unique identifier assigned to a granted patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Patent Office Action: A document written by a patent examiner setting forth the results of the review of a patent application.

Patent Pending: A status indicating that a patent application has been filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), but a patent has not been issued yet.  

Patent Portfolio Management: Management of two or more patents for potential assertion, development of additional patents, and payment of maintenance fees.  For more information, see our Patent Portfolio Management page.  

Patent Prosecution Highway: A set of initiatives for providing accelerated patent prosecution procedures through sharing information between some patent offices.

Patent Protection: Patent protection is obtained through filing a patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).  In most cases, utility patents have a lifespan of 20 years; design patents have a lifespan of 15 years. For more information, see our Patent Protection page.  

Patent Reexamination: The process at the United States Patent and Trademark Office where an examiner reexamines an issued patent at the request of the patent owner or a third party.  For more information, see our Patent Reexamination page.  

Patent Registration Process: The process required to obtain an issued patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office beginning with an application, prosecution, and an issued patent.  For more information, see our Patent Registration Process page.  

Patent Search: Investigation of existing patents to determine if a discovery meets the patentable criteria of new, novel and non-obvious.

Patent Term Expiration: The end of the patent protection period after which the patent expires and enters the public domain.

Patent Transactions & Licensing: Patent Transactions & Licensing involve assignments of patent or granting rights of a patent to a third party.  For more information, see our Patent Transactions & Licensing page.  

Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB): An administrative law body of the USPTO that decides issues of patentability, including appeals from prior rejections by examiners and challenges to the validity of patents.

Patent Troll: A pejorative term used for a person or company that uses patent infringement claims to shake down targets for settlement payments to avoid the expense of costly patent litigation.    

Patentable: Meeting the legal requirements for patent protection as determined by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Patentable Subject Matter: Categories of inventions that qualify for patent protection.  Under the U.S. Patent Act, 35 U.S.C. Section 101, patentable subject matter includes processes, machines, articles of manufacture, and compositions of matter.  

Payor Number: customer number.

PBG: Patent Business Goals.

PBG Final Rule: Patent Business Goals Final Rule - implement streamlined patent practice; a result of the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999.

PBX: Private Branch Exchange - a telephony term describing a private telephone network used within an enterprise. Users of the PBX share a certain number of outside lines for making external telephone calls.

PCT: Patent Cooperation Treaty, an international treaty administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that allows applicants to file a single international patent application to seek protection for an invention in multiple countries.

PCT Regulations: The regulations governing the procedures and requirements for filing and prosecuting international patent applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

PDF: Portable Document Format - a common proprietary document format from Adobe used for documents having mixtures of text and images that preserves the look and feel of a printed page and permits the user to zoom and magnify the pages when viewing; not "archival" because of its proprietary nature.

PDX: The electronic Priority Document Exchange program between national intellectual property offices used to streamline and simplify applicant's requirement to provide copies of priority documents.

PEAI: The Patent Enterprise Access Integration will provide full content access within the IFW by USPTO personnel and customers as well as full content access to EPO and JPO.

Perform: To adhere to and fulfill the terms of an obligation.

Performing Rights Society: An organization that manages public performance licenses of nondramatic musical works for the copyright owners.

Perpetuity: Legal term meaning forever.

Person: For purposes of small entity determination per MPEP 509.02, a person is defined as any inventor or other individual (e.g., an individual to whom an inventor has transferred some rights in the invention), who has not assigned, granted conveyed, or licensed, and is under no obligation under contract or law to assign, grant, convey, or license any rights in the invention.

Petition: A petition is a signed, written request for specific relief presented to the office.

Petitions (patent matters): Petitions regarding the filing of patent applications, revival of abandoned applications, reinstatement of expired patents, withdrawal of patent applications from issue, small entity entitlement, review of previous decisions of the Technology Centers, suspension of regulations, and questions not specifically provided for by regulations are administered by the Office of Petitions within the Office of Patent Examination Policy.

Petitions, Office of (patent matters): Reviews and decides petitions, requests, and related inquiries, regarding the filing of patent applications, revival of abandoned applications, reinstatement of expired patents, withdrawal of patent applications from issue, small entity entitlement, review of previous decisions of the Technology Centers, suspension of regulations, and questions not specifically provided for by regulations.

Petition to Revive an Application (Trademark Matters): A request submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to reinstate or revive an abandoned trademark application or registration due to unintentional delay or failure to respond to office actions.

PG Pub: Pre-Grant Publication of patent application at 18 months from priority date.

Phonetic Similarity of Trademarks: One of the likelihood of confusion factors in trademark law, two marks are compared to determine the degree to which they sound alike when spoken. 

Phonorecords: Under U.S. copyright law, phonorecords are physical or digital copies of sound recordings, eligible for copyright protection, which includes CDs, vinyl records, tapes, or digital audio files, containing musical works or spoken content.

Pictorial Graphic and Sculptural Works: Under U.S. copyright law, pictorial graphic or sculptural works are creative works of art or design expressed in two-dimensional or three-dimensional form, eligible for copyright protection, which includes paintings, drawings, sculptures, and architectural works, protected by copyright.

PKI: Public Key Infrastructure is a system of administrative procedures and methods, combined with secure information technologies, that is used to manage secure electronic commerce. Helps securely identify participants in electronic transactions as well as secure transmission and handling of data.

Plaintiff: The party who files a lawsuit against another party.

Plant Application (Patent): Applications to protect invented or discovered, asexually reproduced plant varieties.

Plant Patent: A type of patent granted for a new and distinct variety of plant that is asexually reproduced.  See Patent Act, 35 U.S.C. Section 101. 

PLT: Patent Law Treaty, an international treaty aimed at harmonizing and simplifying formal procedures for patent application filing and prosecution, administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

PMA: President's Management Agenda.

PMO: Program Management Office.

POA: Power of Attorney, a legal document authorizing an individual or entity to act on behalf of another person or organization in legal or administrative matters, such as patent or trademark prosecution.

POIS: Patent Cooperation Treaty Operations Imaging System.

Post Grant Review (PGR): Reviews conducted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office after the grant of a patent.  For more information, see our Post Grant Review (PGR) page.  

Postcard Receipt: A self-addressed, stamped postcard with itemized list of parts of patent application and number of pages per MPEP 503; used as a receipt for what was submitted in an application.

POWER: Patent Cooperation Treaty Operations Workflow and Electronic Review.

PPAC Patent Public Advisory Committee: Reviews the policies, goals, performance, budget, and user fees of patent operations, respectively, and advises the director on these matters.

PPS PowerPoint Show File: A type of encapsulated, non-editable Microsoft slideshow.

PPT PowerPoint File: A native, editable type of Microsoft slideshow file.

Practitioner: Registered patent practitioners are individuals who have passed the USPTO's registration exam and met the qualifications to represent patent applicants before the USPTO.

PRD: Public Records Division.

Precautionary Designation: designation of a Contracting State in an international application filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty which must be confirmed prior to 15 months from the priority date.

Pre-Disclosure: Notification sent to a university Technology Licensing Office ("TLO") to discuss an invention and the disclosure and transfer processes.

Preliminary Injunction: A court order made upon a showing of irreparable harm, often at the beginning of a case, that enjoins a party from certain proscribed actions.  Occasionally, a preliminary injunction can require a party to commit certain actions.  

Presumption of Validity: A legal assumption that a patent is presumed valid unless proven otherwise by clear and convincing evidence.  

Primary Examiner: A patent examiner who is fully authorized to sign office actions making patentability determinations (i.e., has "signatory authority").

Principal Investigator: The person in charge of a project.

Principal Register: The primary trademark register administered and maintained by the USPTO. Only trademarks that are distinctive can be registered on the Principal Register, which provides the greatest protection for trademark owners.

PrinTEAS: Removed from production on 2 November 2003. A former feature of the USPTO's electronic filing system that allowed applicants to complete a trademark application on-line, and then print it out for mailing to the USPTO.

Prior Art: Publicly available information in any form before a given date that might be relevant to a patent’s claims of novelty and non-obviousness.

Prior Use: Use of a trademark in commerce in connection with specific goods or services. The person who uses a trademark first is called the “senior user.”

Prioritized Patent Examination Program (Track One): A procedure for expedited review of a utility or plant patent application for an additional fee. The USPTO's goal for prioritized examination is to provide a final disposition within twelve months of prioritized status being granted.

Priority Action: Official letter an examining attorney sends to an applicant or their attorney after consulting with them. It lists specific actions the applicant must take to address the refusals or requirements discussed so that their trademark can be approved for publication or registration.

Priority Filing Date Based on a Foreign Application: Legal basis to file a U.S. trademark application if an application is filed within a foreign country within the last six months. Both applications must be for the same trademark with the same goods or services. This filing basis gives the U.S. application the same effective filing date as your foreign application. Also called Section 44(d).

Priority Mail Express® (patent): Patent correspondence delivered to the USPTO via the "Priority Mail Express® Post Office to Addressee" service of the United States Postal Service (USPS). Correspondence sent by the Priority Mail Express® is considered filed in the Office on the "date accepted" entered by the USPS on the Priority Mail Express® mailing label.

Privacy Policies: Agreements that govern the rights to obtain, use, and disclose certain information.  For more information, see our Privacy Policies page.  

PRM Performance Reference Model: A standardized framework to measure the performance of major IT investments and their contribution to program performance.

Pro Se: Someone representing themself before a legal tribunal.  Often, a bad idea.  

Professional Negligence: A claim that a professional, such as a lawyer, doctor, wealth advisor, architect, or accountant, failed to fulfill a duty owed to another.  For more information, see our Professional Negligence page.  

Prosecution History Estoppel: A legal doctrine that prevents a patentee from reclaiming, during litigation, the part of the scope of a patent claim that was surrendered during prosecution in order to obtain allowance of the patent.

Provisional Patent Application: A legal document filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that secures a filing date.  Provisional applications cannot mature into an enforceable patent, are not examined, and lapse within a year of filing.  

PRPS: Patent Review Processing System - the PTAB's e-filing (EF) and case management (CM) system for trial proceedings. Replaced by PTAB E2E in 2016.

Pseudo Mark: An alternate spelling or an improper spelling that is phonetically equivalent to a trademark in an application.

Pseudonymous Work: A work where the writer's true identity is concealed by a fake name.

PSIPS: Publication Site for Issued and Published Sequences.

PSTN: Public Switched Telephone Network.

PTA: Patent Term Adjustment.

PTAB E2E: PTAB's e-filing (EF) and case management (CM) system for trial proceedings.

PTDL: Patent and Trademark Depository Library.

PTE: Patent Term Extension.

PTO: Patent and Trademark Office, former designation for USPTO. Also a type of form designation for forms generated by the USPTO (as in PTO-892).

PTOL: A type of form designation such as Form PTOL, meaning a Patent and Trademark Office Legal form.

PTOS Patent and Trademark Office Society: The Patent and Trademark Office Society is for Patent and Trademark professionals and other interested individuals. Founded in 1917, the Society is today internationally recognized for its activities in the patent and trademark fields.

PTRC: Patent and Trademark Resource Centers are libraries designated by the USPTO to receive copies of patents, CD-ROMs containing registered and pending marks, and patent and trademark materials that are made available to the public for free.

Public Disclosure: Making an invention, or technology, public knowledge. Can be accomplished in many ways including publication, presentation, etc. Patent rights must be filed within twelve (12) months of public disclosure in order to preserve the inventor's rights.

Public Domain: Intellectual property rights (patent, trademark, or copyright) that no longer belong to the initial IP rightsholder and now belong to the public, such that anyone can use the IP.  

Publication: Disclosure in a format easily accessible or distributed to the general public.

Publication For Opposition: Publishing of a trademark in the Trademark Official Gazette, which begins the 30-day opposition period. During this period, anyone who believes they will be damaged by the registration of someone else's trademark can initiate an opposition proceeding.

Publication Number: A number assigned to the publication of patent applications filed on or after November 29, 2000. It includes the year, followed by a seven-digit number, followed by a kind code.

Publicly: to transmit or otherwise communicate a performance or display of the work to a place specified by clause (1) or to the public, by means of any device or process, whether the members of the public capable of receiving the performance or display receive it in the same place or in separate places and at the same time or at different times.

Pubs: Patent Publication, Office of.

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Q “Quasi-Contractual Obligation” to “Quit Claim Deed”

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Quasi-Contractual Obligation: An obligation regarded by law as contractual even though the obligation may not appear in contractual language. 

Quit Claim Deed: A legal instrument wherein a property owner transfers rights to a purchaser, often “as is” with no representations or warranties.  

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R “RAM” to “RUP”

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RAM: Revenue Accounting and Management System.

RCE: Request for Continued Examination, a request submitted by an applicant to reopen prosecution of a patent application before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).  

RE: Reexamination.

Reach Through Rights: Ownership rights claimed by a research sponsor other than a university. Allows unreasonable control over innovations. Request of these rights conflicts with the research principles of the National Institutes of Health.

Reasonable Discernability: Relative ease of recognition of something.

Reasonable Effort: Minimum legally required attempt. Subjective based on the issue.

Record Copy: Original copy of an international application filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty maintained by the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Recordation Form Cover Sheet: USPTO form that patent owners use to record patent and/or patent application assignments. The form PTO-1595 may be used as the cover sheet.

Reduction to Practice: Reducing the invention from concept to physical form (actual reduction) or by filing a patent application that fully describes how to make and use the invention (constructive reduction).

Redacted Publication: A patent application publication that omits material that was present in the specification or claims of the non-provisional patent application filed in the USPTO.

Reduced to Practice: A concept that has been proven to work as intended.

Reduction: The process of constructing the invention or performing the process to demonstrate its intended or claimed use in the patent application.

Reexamination Process: A legal process for a third party or the patentee to have a patent reexamined by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to verify that the subject matter it claims is patentable or to challenge whether one or more claims of the patent are valid.  

Reference (prior art): MPEP 900 for information.

Registered Mark: A trademark that is registered with the USPTO and is allowed to be labeled with the phrase "Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office" or showing an "R" surrounded by a circle.

Registered Patent Attorney: An attorney who is authorized to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Registration: The official certificate or paperwork obtained as a result of recording information in an official system or register.

Registration Basis: The legal basis for a trademark registration.

Registration Certificate: Certificate issued to a trademark owner when their trademark is federally registered. It documents the trademark, owner's details, registration date, goods and services, and other important details and constitutes prima facie evidence of certain facts.

Registration Number: A registered patent attorney/agent is assigned a registration number that they must include on patent correspondence and forms when representing others before the USPTO; individual applicants do not have a registration number and should leave this field blank on patent forms.

Registration Number (trademarks): Unique number assigned to a trademark when it is registered, used to look up and track the registration in our systems and required when filing forms to maintain the registration. The registration number is different from the application serial number.

Reissue Application: An application for a patent to take the place of an unexpired patent that is defective in one or more particulars (items or details).

Reissue Patent: A new patent issued to replace a patent with an error. 

Reissue Patents: Patents issued for an invention that was already granted a patent but has since been deemed defective or in need of correction.

Rejection (Patent/Trademark): A determination by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) examiner that some or all of the claims in a patent application are not eligible for patent protection or that a trademark application is not entitled to registration.  

Rejoinder: The rejoining (returning to active consideration) of claims previously withdrawn from consideration due to a restriction requirement.

Renewal: Maintenance filing a trademark registrant must submit at regular intervals for the life of the trademark registration.

Renewal Fees (patents): Fees paid to maintain a patent in force after it has been granted. Failure to pay these fees can result in expiration of the patent.

Representation of Mark: A clear image of the trademark that a person or organization wants to register, used by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for record-keeping and issuing certificates.

Representative Capacity: A registered patent practitioner who is authorized to represent a particular party in a patent case on whose behalf he or she is acting but without power of attorney.

REPS: Re-examination Processing System.

Request For Continued Examination (RCE): A request by a patent applicant for continued examination of a patent application after final rejection.

Request (PCT): The request (Form PCT/RO/101) is the part of the international application that contains a petition for the international application to be processed according to the Patent Cooperation Treaty and which also contains certain indications relating to designated States in which protection is sought, the invention, applicant(s), inventor(s), and any agent.

Request for Extension of Time for Patent Owner Response: A patent owner can submit a request for an extension of time to file a response in a variety of circumstances.

Request for Extension of Time to File a Statement of Use: A request to extend the deadline for filing a Statement of Use by six months at a time.

Request to Reinstate an Application: Written request that the USPTO return an abandoned application to an active status and continue the examination process when the application was abandoned due to USPTO error.

Research Agreement: Defines the terms for sponsors to provide research support to a university.

Research Data: Any information generated and documented while performing research.

Restriction: If two or more independent and distinct inventions are claimed in a single application, the examiner may require the applicant to elect (designate) a single invention to which the claims will be restricted (limited to). This requirement is known as a requirement for restriction (also known as a requirement for division).

Restriction Requirement: A demand by a patent examiner to divide a patent application into multiple applications, where an examiner believes that a patent application claims to more than one invention.  

Review Proceeding: An inter partes review, post grant review, or the transitional post-grant review for covered business method patents, or derivation proceeding by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

Revival of Abandoned Applications: The process of restoring an abandoned patent application to active status by satisfying USPTO requirements.

Right of First Refusal: An agreement giving a specific entity the first right, usually under a specific time period, to negotiate a license for an invention.

Right of Publicity: Also referred to as rights to celebrity or right of likeness, the right of publicity is a common law right in many States to prohibit third parties from profiting from the likeness of another.  For more information, see our Right of Publicity page.  

Right to Use Search: A trademark search used to determine if a potential trademark can be used without infringing the rights of third parties.

RO: Receiving Office - the national Office or the intergovernmental organization with which an international application is filed and which processes the application in accordance with the PCT and its Regulations.

Royalties: Payments made by a licensee to a licensor for the right to use their intellectual property (IP).

Royalty: Monies generated from the licensing and commercialization of inventions, technology, and other forms of Intellectual Property (IP).

RPO: Recovery Point Objective.

RTO: Recovery Time Objective.

RUP: Rational Unified Process.



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S “S&T” to “Suspension Inquiry Letter”

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S&T: Science and technology.

SAFE: Secure Application Filed Electronically.

SAN: Storage Area Network.

SB: SB is used as part of the label in our form designations (e.g., PTO/SB/05). The origin of this notation is a Specimen Book (no longer in use) that included all of the forms.

Scholarly Work: Work created by an institution's faculty member within their Scope of Employment and in the area of which they teach.

Scope: The breadth of subject matter that is covered by a legal claim such as a patent claim.

Scope of Employment:  Duties assigned to an employee by an employer, sometimes referred to as the "course of normal duties." These may be duties under control or direction of the employer. The scope of employment can affect the ownership rights between employer and employee depending on the type of intellectual property such as copyrights (work made for hire doctrine) and patents (shop rights).

SCORE: Supplemental Complex Repository for Examiners.

SCP: Standing Committee on the Law of Patents.

SDM: System Development Manager.

Search Copy: Copy of an international application filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty maintained by the International Searching Authority.

SEAS: Secure Environment Access Solution.

Section 102 Rejections: Rejections of patent applications based on prior art or lack of novelty, under Section 102 of the Patent Act.

Section 103 Rejections: Rejections of patent applications based on obviousness, under Section 103 of the Patent Act.

Section 15 Declaration of Incontestability: Optional declaration a trademark registrant can file to strengthen their trademark rights if they're eligible. Trademark owners can file a form to declare incontestability if their registered trademark meets certain requirements, such as continuous use in commerce for at least five years.

Section 8 Declaration of Continued Use: A sworn statement, filed by the owner of a registration that the mark is in use in commerce.

Section 8 Declaration of Excusable Nonuse: A sworn statement, filed by the owner of a registration, that the mark is not in use in commerce due to special circumstances that excuse such nonuse and is not due to any intention to abandon the mark.

Section 8 Declaration of Use or Excusable Nonuse: Maintenance filing a trademark owner must submit periodically to maintain their registration. Generally, the owner must provide evidence that they are still properly using their trademark in commerce with the goods or services in the registration.

Section 9 Renewal Application: Maintenance filing a trademark registrant must submit every 10 years to maintain their registration.

Security Agreement: A contract that gives rise to, or establishes, a right of security interest.

Senior User: The party who first uses a trademark in commerce relative to others called “junior users”.  In many cases, a senior user has priority over junior users.  

Serial Number: A unique identifier assigned to each patent or trademark application filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or to each registration issued by the USPTO.

Series Code: A code used by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to identify a group of related trademark applications or registrations sharing a common characteristic or relationship.

Service Component: The component of a mark that indicates the type or nature of the services provided under the mark.

Service Mark: Any word, symbol, or any combination used or intended to be used to identify the source of services provided by one party from the source of services provided by others.

SF: A type of form designation such as Form SF51, meaning a Standard Form used throughout the Federal Government.

SFFAC: Statements of Federal Financial Accounting Concepts.

SFFAS: Statements of Federal Financial Accounting Standards.

Single-Party Patent Infringement: The act of using or selling a patented invention without permission from the patent owner.

SIPO: State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China.

SIR: Statutory Invention Registration is a published statutory invention registration contains the specification and drawings of a regularly filed non-provisional application for a patent without examination if the applicant: (1) meets the requirements of section 112 of this title; (2) has complied with the requirements for printing, as set forth in regulations of the Commissioner; (3) waives the right to receive a patent on the invention within such period as may be prescribed by the Commissioner; and (4) pays application, publication, and other processing fees established by the Commissioner.

SIRA: Search and Information Resources Administration, an organizational unit of the Patent business area.

SITP: Strategic Information Technology Plan.

SM: Service Mark.

Small Business Concern: For purposes of small entity determination per MPEP 509.02 - any business concerned meeting the size standards set forth in 13 CFR Part 121 to be eligible for reduced patent fees.

Small Entity: In the context of patent law, refers to an independent inventor, a small business, or a nonprofit organization eligible for reduced patent fees in compliance with rules of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).  

SMART Standards, Mentor, Attempt, Review, Transition: an informal development program used for USPTO's OCIO employees that identifies standards to work towards and establishes a mentoring relationship between managers and their employees who must meet these standards.

Social Media Law: Law governing the use of social media.  For more information, see our Social Media Law page.  

Software Counterfeiting Enforcement: Strategies to identify and stop software counterfeiters, commonly using copyright or patent law.  For more information, see our Software Counterfeiting Enforcement page.  

Software Development Agreements: Agreements that set forth the rights and obligations where one party hires another party to develop software.  Common terms include compensation, no reverse engineering, right to termination, and who owns the rights in the software.  For more information, see our Software Development Agreements page.  

Software Indemnification & Indemnity Agreements: Agreements that provide an obligation for one party to indemnify and potentially hold harmless and defend the other party against third-party claims.  For more information, see our Software Indemnification & Indemnity Agreements page.  

Software Licensing: An agreement where the owner of the software provides another certain rights to use the software.  For more information, see our Software Licensing page.  

Software Patents: Software patents provide patent protection for processes carried out by software or computer code.  These patents can be difficult to obtain because the applicant must overcome the 35 U.S.C. Section 101, patentable subject matter requirement.  For more information, see our Software Patents page.  

Software Related Services: Services including developing software licensing agreements (EULA and development), registering software for copyright and patent protection, and licensing software rights.  For more information, see our Software Related Services page.  

SOU: Shorthand for “Statement of Use,” a declaration filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to demonstrate the use of a trademark in commerce in association with specified goods or services.

Sound Recordings: In copyright law, sound recordings are eligible for copyright protection and include audio recordings of music, spoken words, or other sounds.  Like all copyrights, sound recordings must be fixed in a tangible medium of expression.  

Special Form Drawing: Depiction of the trademark you want to register if it includes stylized text (such as text in a particular font style or color), or a design element (such as an image or logo, with or without color).

Specification: The part of a patent application that describes the invention in detail, including its structure, function, and operation, as well as any accompanying drawings or diagrams.

Specimen: Evidence submitted with a trademark application or declaration of use to demonstrate use of the mark in commerce, typically in the form of labels, packaging, advertisements, or other materials, in connection with the claimed goods and services.  

Sponsored Research: Research funded by an external entity for a specific purpose.

SRM Service Reference Model: (also known as a Service Component Reference Model) a business and performance-driven, functional framework that classifies Service Components with respect to how they support business and/or performance objectives; structured across horizontal and vertical service domains that, independent of the business functions, can provide a leverage-able foundation to support the reuse of applications, application capabilities, components, and business services.

SSP: Shortened Statutory Period is a time period which an examiner may set (generally two months) during which an applicant must supply the omission to the previous reply to avoid abandonment. This is typically invoked when a bona fide attempt to reply to an office action includes an inadvertent omission that precludes action on the merits of the application.

Standard Character Drawing (Trademark): A drawing that depicts a trademark in simple, block lettering without any design element, used in trademark registration to provide broad rights in the mark's words, regardless of font or style.  The drawing is typically provided in black and white.  

Statement of Grant of Protection: A notification communicated in an international design application under the Hague Agreement by the office of a designated Contracting Party to the International Bureau indicating that protection is granted in the Contracting Party concerned to all or some of the industrial designs that are the subject of international registration.

Statement of Net Cost: Compares fees earned to costs incurred during a specific period of time. It is not necessarily an indicator of net income or net cost over the life of a patent or trademark.

Statement of Use: A declaration filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to demonstrate the use of a trademark in commerce in association with specified goods or services.

Status Identifiers: Codes assigned to a patent or trademark application by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to indicate its current status in the registration process.

Statute of Limitations: An affirmative defense to legal claims where a claim may be barred if not if asserted before the expiration of the statute of limitations (SOL) period.  The statute of limitations can sometimes be tolled by the discovery rule or fraudulent concealment by the defendant. 

Statutory Bar: A provision in law that prevents a patent from being granted if certain actions, such as public disclosure, have occurred prior to filing.  Statutory bars are set forth in the Patent Act, 35 U.S.C. Sections 102 and 103.

Statutory Disclaimer: A disclaimer required by law or statute, typically used to disclaim exclusive rights to certain descriptive or generic elements of a trademark that are not inherently distinctive or protectable in a pending trademark application.  A disclaimer can be made to obtain allowance of a pending trademark application.  

Statutory Invention Registrations (SIRs): A mechanism for disclosing and protecting inventions that do not qualify for patents due to being already known or obvious.

Stylized Mark: A type of trademark that includes stylized or graphical elements, such as specific fonts, designs, or images, in addition to or instead of plain text.  As with all trademarks, stylized marks must act as source identifiers to distinguish the goods or services of one provider from those of others.

Subsequent Designation: A request by the holder of an international trademark registration for an extension of protection of the registration to additional Contracting Parties.

Substantive Reasons for Refusal: There are several substantive reasons for refusing registration of a mark, including for example: likelihood of confusion; primarily merely descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive of the goods/services; primarily geographically descriptive or primarily geographically deceptively; misdescriptive of the goods/services; primarily merely a surname; or mere ornamentation.

Substitute Patent Application: A replacement or alternative patent application filed in lieu of an earlier-filed application, typically used to correct errors, omissions, or deficiencies in the original application or to change the scope or content of the invention being claimed.

Substitute Statement: A statement made by an applicant for patent in lieu of an oath or declaration if the inventor is deceased, under a legal incapacity, has refused to execute the oath or declaration, or cannot be found or reached after diligent effort.

Suggestive Mark: A mark that, when applied to the goods or services at issue, requires imagination, thought, or perception to reach a conclusion as to the nature of those goods or services.

Suggestive Trademark: A mark that indirectly suggests a characteristic of the underlying product or service, requiring imagination on the part of the consumer to identify the characteristic.  Suggestive trademarks are considered inherently distinctive.  

Supplemental Examination: A mechanism whereby the patent owner can request that the USPTO consider, reconsider, or correct information believed to be relevant to the patent.

Supplemental Register: A secondary register maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for trademarks that do not meet the requirements for registration on the Principal Register.  The Supplemental Register is reserved for trademarks that are capable of distinguishing goods or services and are in use in commerce, but do not meet the requirements to be included in the Principal Register.  After five years of use and inclusion in the Supplemental Register, trademark owners can refile for inclusion in the Supplemental Register.  

Surcharge Due: An additional fee that may be required due to late or insufficient payment of fees.

Suspension Letter: A communication from a trademark examining attorney at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to an applicant, informing them of the suspension of examination of a trademark application pending resolution of certain issues or matters affecting the application. Suspension letters are commonly issued when there is a potential likelihood of confusion issue between two pending trademark applications.  

Suspension (trademarks): Temporary pause on examination, allowing an issue impacting your application to be resolved. For example, waiting for a potentially-conflicting trademark in a previously-filed application to either be registered or abandoned, which affects whether a subsequent trademark application can be registered.

Suspension Inquiry Letter: Office action asking the applicant for the status of the issue impacting their application. For example, if the applicant requested a suspension during a lawsuit related to their trademark, the letter will ask if the lawsuit is still pending, has been suspended, or has been terminated.



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T “Tangible Research Property” to “Typed Mark”

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Tangible Research Property: Results of research that are physical in nature rather than intellectual. A physical invention rather than an innovative concept.

TARR: Abbreviation for “Trademark Applications and Registrations Retrieval,” a database and online search tool provided by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for accessing information about trademark applications and registrations.

TC: Technology Center.

TD: Terminal Disclaimer.

TDR: Abbreviation for “Trademark Document Retrieval,” a database and online search tool provided by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for accessing documents related to trademark applications and registrations.

TEAS: Abbreviation for “Trademark Electronic Application System,” the online portal and electronic filing system provided by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for filing trademark applications and related documents.

Technology Center: A division within the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Technology Licensing Office (TLO): A department, sub-department or additional entity of a university who facilitates licensing, transfer and commercialization of inventions discovered by researchers, faculty or students of the institution.

Technology Outsourcing: Technology outsourcing involves agreements between a technology owner and a third party conferring certain rights or obligations.  For more information, see our Technology Outsourcing page.  

Technology Transactions: Transactions involving rights in technology, such as software licensing agreements.  For more information, see our Technology Transactions page.  

Technology Transfer: Technology transfer is the sharing of skills, knowledge, technologies, methods of manufacturing, samples of manufacturing and facilities among industries, universities, governments and other institutions to make scientific and technological developments accessible to a wider range of people who can further develop and exploit the technology.

Technology Transfer Offices: (also known as Offices of Technology Transfer) an organization within a university or government body that identifies research initiatives that have the greatest commercial potential, and facilitates their commercialization.

Technology Transfer Process: The predefined steps taken by the research university to assert and protect its patent rights and to monetize inventions where possible.

Term of Art: A term or phrase with a specific meaning within a particular field, industry, or profession, but not necessarily understood by the general public to have the same meaning.

Terminal Disclaimer for Patents: A statement filed by a patent applicant disclaiming part of the term of a patent, typically used to overcome a double-patenting rejection.

Terminal Disclaimer (TD): a statement filed by an owner under 35 USC 253 (paragraph 2) and 37 CFR 1.321(b) or (c) to disclaim or dedicate to the public the entire term or any portion of the term of a patent or patent to be granted.

Terms of Use Agreements: A form of agreement frequently used between a website operator and website users.  For more information, see our Terms of Use Agreements page.  

TESS: Trademark Electronic Search System, an online search tool provided by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for searching and examining trademark applications and registrations.

Third-Party Patent Submissions: Submissions made to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) regarding a patent.  For more information, see our Third-Party Patent Submissions page.  

Three-Year Statutory Bar: A restriction on filing a patent application more than three years after public disclosure of the invention.

TICRS: Trademark Image Capture and Retrieval System, a database and online search tool provided by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for accessing images of trademark documents.

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format): A lossless, archival image file format - a type using G4 compression is used for patent images.

TIS: Trademark Information System.

TLT: Trademark Law Treaty.

TMEP: Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure, a comprehensive guidebook published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that provides detailed instructions and guidelines for trademark examination and prosecution.

TMOG: Trademark Official Gazette, a publication issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that contains information about newly filed or registered trademarks, including marks available for opposition.

TPAC: Trademark Public Advisory Committee, a committee established by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to advise the agency on issues related to trademark policy, operations, and procedures.

TPostal: Trademark Postal System.

Track I Examination: A program that accelerates the patent examination process for an additional fee, aiming for a final disposition within twelve months.

Trade Dress: A specialized form of trademark protecting the look and feel of a product or its packaging.  For more information, see our Trade Dress page.  

Trade Dress Litigation: Trade dress litigation involves the assertion of trade dress by the plaintiff against a defendant accused of adopting confusingly similar trade dress.  For more information, see our Trade Dress Litigation page.  

Trade Dress Protection: Protection for the overall appearance and image of a product or service, similar to trademark protection but focusing on visual elements rather than words. Trade dress excludes functional elements and requires a showing of secondary meaning if the trade dress is extended to the product itself.

Trade Secret: Information or knowledge that provides a business with a competitive advantage, is not generally known or readily ascertainable by others, and is subject to reasonable efforts to maintain its secrecy, typically protected under state laws or through confidentiality agreements.

Trade Secret Indemnification & Indemnity Agreements: Agreements providing that one party owe another an obligation of indemnity and possibly a defense against claims made by third parties.  For more information, see our Trade Secret Indemnification & Indemnity Agreements page.  

Trade Secret Litigation: Litigation where the plaintiff contends the defendant misappropriated its trade secrets.  For more information, see our Trade Secret Litigation page.  

Trade Secret Misappropriation: The theft or unauthorized use of trade secrets, such as confidential business information or know-how.

Trade Secret Protection: Protection of trade secrets involves non-disclosure agreements, confidentiality agreements, password protection, and limiting access to the trade secret on a “need to know” basis.  For more information, see our Trade Secret Protection page.  

Trade Secrets: Secret or confidential information that provide the owner with a competitive advantage.

Trademark: A word, phrase, symbol, or design, or a combination thereof, acting as an identifier of the source of goods and services distinguishing those from goods and services provided by others.

Trademark Act: Known as the Lanham Act passed in July, 1956 and set forth as 15 U.S.C. Section 1051 et seq.  

Trademark Appeal: A process for challenging a decision of a trademark examiner related to the registration or refusal of a trademark application.

Trademark Application: A formal request submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to register a trademark.

Trademark Application and Registration Retrieval: A database and online search tool provided by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for accessing information about trademark applications and registrations.

Trademark Application Number: A unique number assigned to a trademark application.

Trademark Clearance Searches: Searches of USPTO database and other sources to determine whether a proposed trademark is available for use.

Trademark Counterfeiting Enforcement: Strategies used to stop trademark counterfeiting, which include trademark monitoring, cease and desist letters, takedowns, and litigation.  For more information, see our Trademark Counterfeiting Enforcement page.  

Trademark Electronic Application System: TEAS, the online electronic filing system provided by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for filing trademark applications and related documents.

Trademark Electronic Search System: TEASS, the online search tool provided by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for searching and examining trademark applications and registrations.

Trademark Indemnity & Indemnification Agreements: Agreements in which one party agrees to indemnify and hold harmless another party against third-party claims.  For more information, see our Trademark Indemnity & Indemnification Agreements page.  

Trademark Infringement: Unauthorized use of a trademark.  

Trademark Infringement Defense: Defending against claims for trademark infringement such as no likelihood of confusion, senior user, laches, and other defenses.  For more information, see our Trademark Infringement Defense page.  

Trademark Infringement Litigation: Legal action taken by a trademark owner against someone who is using a similar or identical mark without permission.

Trademark Licensing: Granting rights to a trademark from the owner (licensor) to a third party called the “licensee.”  For more information, see our Trademark Licensing page.  

Trademark Litigation: Assertion of a trademark in a lawsuit against an accused infringer.  For more information, see our Trademark Litigation page.  

Trademark Management: Management of one or more trademarks to establish and protect a brand.  For more information, see our Trademark Management page.

Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure: A comprehensive guidebook published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that provides detailed instructions and guidelines for trademark examination and prosecution.

Trademark Official Gazette (TMOG): Weekly online USPTO publication of trademarks published for opposition before they're registered, trademarks registered on the Supplemental Register, canceled trademark registrations, and renewed trademark registrations.

Trademark Opposition & Cancellation Proceedings: Proceedings at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to oppose the registration or cancel the registration of a trademark.  For more information, see our Trademark Opposition & Cancellation Proceedings page.  

Trademark Owner: Person or legal entity who uses the trademark on the goods they produce or in the sale or advertising of the services they provide.

Trademark Portfolio Enforcement: Strategies to enforce a portfolio of trademarks to maximize a brand.  For more information, see our Trademark Portfolio Enforcement page.  

Trademark Protection: Steps taken to obtain and maintain trademark protection.  For more information, see our Trademark Protection page.  

Trademark Public Advisory Committee (TPAC): Committee of U.S. trademark attorneys from the private sector who advise the USPTO on trademark operations, such as strategic goals, performance, budgets, and fees.

Trademark Registration & Maintenance: Steps taken to obtain trademark registration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or state trademark offices and maintenance of those registrations.  For more information, see our Trademark Registration & Maintenance page.  

Trademark Registration Process: Steps taken to obtain trademark registration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or state trademark offices.  For more information, see our Trademark Registration Process page.  

Trademark Registration Symbol: The symbol ®, used to indicate that a trademark has been registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).  

Trademark Renewal: The process of renewing a registered trademark to extend its period of legal protection.  In the United States, trademarks must be renewed each 10 years.  

Trademark Status and Document Retrieval (TSDR) System: System used to view the status of trademark applications and registrations, or view documents related to them, such as office actions, notices, and petitions.

Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Litigation (TTAB): Litigation before the TTAB, which involves disputes concerning the registration of trademarks.

TRAM Trademark Reporting And Monitoring: A system used by trademark examiners within USPTO.

Transfer of Copyright Ownership: A formal action that moves full or partial copyright control from one party to another, excluding nonexclusive licenses.

Transitional Phrase: A word or phrase that serves to link or create a relationship between one idea or concept and another. In patent law, a transitional phrase is used to designate the transition from the preamble of a claim to the body of the claim as well as indicate whether the scope of the claim is open or closed to other elements or limitations.

Transmission Program: 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.

Transmit: Sending or moving something from one individual or location to another; The act of passing something down, particularly through inheritance.

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

Treaty Party: A foreign country or organization that participates in an international agreement.

TRIPs: Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property.

TRM: Technical Reference Model.

TSG: Technology Standards and Guidelines.

TSS Technical Support Staff: USPTO employees who support examination workflow processing.

TTAB: Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, an administrative tribunal within the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that handles appeals, oppositions, cancellations, and other disputes related to trademarks.

TTY: “Teletypewriter,” a device used for text communication over a telephone line.

Typed Mark: A type of trademark consisting of text or letters, often stylized or formatted in a particular way to create a distinctive visual impression, as opposed to a design or graphical element.  Claim can be made to a particular font or style.

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U “UDRP Domain Name Proceedings” to “Utility Requirement (Patents)”

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UDRP Domain Name Proceedings: UDRP proceedings involve a registration of a domain name and a trademark owner, who believes it has superior trademark rights and that the domain name registrant acted in bad faith.  These proceedings can be handled through arbitration or in federal court under the ACPA or Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act.  For more information, see our UDRP Domain Name Proceedings page.  

UDRP: Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy, a policy established by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to resolve disputes related to domain names through arbitration.  See Domain Name Proceedings.  

UEA: USPTO Enterprise Architecture.

UML: Unified Modeling Language.

Underlying Technology: Technology already in existence that is required for the creation, utilization or most efficient use of your innovation. Also known as Background Technology.

Unfair Competition: Unfair competition includes activities such as trademark infringement, passing off goods as those of another, false advertising, and other deceptive business practices that harm competitors or mislead consumers about the origin, sponsorship, or approval of goods or services.

Unfair Competition Litigation:  Unfair competition is a basket of legally recognized rights to certain behavior deemed anti-competitive, including trademark infringement, trademark counterfeiting and passing off, and corporate espionage.  For more information, see our Unfair Competition Litigation page.  

United States Work: A work of authorship or intellectual creation that is created or first published in the United States, typically subject to copyright protection under U.S. copyright law.

UPR: Utility, plant, and reissue.

US: United States.

USC: United States Code, the official compilation of federal statutory law of the United States, organized by subject matter into titles and sections.

Use In Commerce: For the purpose of obtaining federal trademark 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.

Use in Commerce (Trademark): A legal requirement for trademark registration in the United States, referring to the use of a trademark in connection with specific goods or services in commerce.  

Use in Commerce Basis: Legal basis an applicant can use to file a trademark application if the applicant is using the trademark in commerce with the goods and services identified in the application. This filing basis is also called Section 1(a).

Use-Based Application: A trademark application based on actual use of the mark in commerce, as opposed to an intent-to-use application, which is based on a bona fide intent to use the mark in commerce in the future.

Use Requirement for Trademarks: The requirement that a trademark must be in use in commerce before it can be registered with the USPTO.

Useful (Patent): A requirement that a patented invention must have a specific, substantial, and credible utility.

Useful Article: In copyright law, an object or item that has both utilitarian function and expressive or artistic elements, typically eligible for copyright protection only to the extent of its artistic or creative features.  Functional elements of the work are typically not protectable by copyright law.  

USPS: Abbreviation for “United States Postal Service.” 

USPTO: United States Patent and Trademark Office

USTR: United States Trade Representative.

Utility Patent: A type of patent granted for inventions or discoveries that have a useful and practical application, typically covering processes, machines, manufactures, or compositions of matter.

Utility Patent Application: A formal request submitted to a patent office for the grant of a utility patent, providing a description of the invention, a summary, frequently drawings, and a set of claims.

Utility Patents: Patents granted for new and useful inventions or processes that have a practical application.

Utility Requirement (Patents): The requirement that an invention must have a specific and useful purpose in order to be patented.

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V “Valuation of Intellectual Property” to “Voluntary Surrender of Patent Rights”

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Valuation of Intellectual Property: The process of determining the monetary value of intellectual property (IP) for purposes such as licensing, acquisition, sale, or litigation.

Venture Capital & Private Equity: Venture Capital (VC) and Private Equity (PE) are two commonly used strategies for companies to raise capital.  For more information, see our Venture Capital & Private Equity page.

Virtual General Counsel: A Virtual General Counsel is commonly an experienced lawyer acting as a “fractional” General Counsel for an individual or company.  Virtual General Counsels are typically employed by companies such as start ups with legal needs, but haven’t grown to the point where a General Counsel can be retained.  For more information, see our Virtual General Counsel page.  

Virtual Marking: A method of marking patented products by displaying a web address on the product instead of the patent number.

Visual Artist Rights Act: A U.S. law that grants artists certain rights to their works of visual art, regardless of the ownership of the physical object.

Voluntary Surrender of Patent Rights: The act of voluntarily giving up ownership and rights to a patent, usually done through a written agreement between parties.

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W “WCT” to “WTO Member Country”

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WCT: WIPO Copyright Treaty, an international treaty administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that sets minimum standards for copyright protection in the digital environment.

Website Agreements: Website agreements such as privacy policies, terms of use, and copyright policies govern the relationship between an operator of a website and visitors/users of the site.  For more information, see our Website Agreements page.  

Widow Widower: The 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.

Willful Infringement: Infringing on a copyright, patent, trademark, or other form of intellectual property with the knowledge of the other party’s rights in the IP. Willful infringement can lead to enhanced damages, exemplary damages, and the recovery of attorney’s fees.  

Willful Patent Infringement: The intentional and knowing use or sale of a patented invention without permission from the patent owner.

Window Close: 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 a patent, which has expired due to failure to pay maintenance fees.

Window Open: Time period when a maintenance fee can be paid.

WINS: Windows Internet Naming Service.

WIPO: World Intellectual Property Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting the protection of intellectual property rights worldwide.

WIPO Copyright Treaty: An international treaty administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that sets minimum standards for copyright protection in the digital environment.

WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty: An international treaty administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that establishes minimum standards for the protection of performances and phonograms.

Withdrawn Claim: A claim that has been voluntarily removed or retracted from a patent application by the applicant or inventor.

Withdrawn Patent: A patent that has been voluntarily withdrawn or abandoned by the patent holder, resulting in the cessation of its legal protection and rights.

Word Mark: A type of trademark consisting of one or more words or letters used as a source identifier for goods or services.  A claim can be made to the style and font of the word mark, although most applicants apply for no particular style or font for the broadest protection.  

Work Made for Hire: A type of work created by an employee within the scope of their employment duties or commissioned under certain contractual agreements, where the employer or commissioning party is considered the legal author and copyright owner.  Work Made for Hire is a commonly misunderstood doctrine of copyright law, particularly with respect to software and code development.  

Work of the United States Government: A work created by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of their official duties, typically not subject to copyright protection and available for public use and dissemination.

Work of Visual Art (VA): For copyrights, a category of creative works, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, and photographs, typically distinguished by their aesthetic and artistic qualities.

Workflow: 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 Incoming Amendment IFW: 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.

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO): A UN agency responsible for protecting intellectual property (IP) worldwide. 

Worldwide Patent Applications: Patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) that designate multiple countries for patent protection. Overall, filing a PCT application can be a cost-effective and efficient way to obtain patent protection in several different countries.

WPPT: WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty.

Written Description Requirement (Patents): The requirement that a patent application must include a written description of the invention in sufficient detail for someone skilled in the art to understand and practice it.

WTO: World Trade Organization, an international organization that regulates international trade and commerce, facilitates trade negotiations, and resolves disputes between member countries.

WTO Agreement: An agreement or treaty negotiated and ratified by member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to establish rules and regulations governing international trade and commerce.

WTO Agreement / WTO Member Country: 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.

WTO Member Country: A member of the WTO.  

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X “X Patent” to “XML”

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“X” Patent: A term referring to a patent whose number includes the letter “X,” which may be used as a temporary designation before an official patent number is assigned.

Xerox: To copy a document using a photocopier.  See Genericide for trademarks.

XML: 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.

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Y “Yearly Review” to “YouTube Copyright Infringement”

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Yearly Review: Owners of intellectual property (IP) should do, at minimum, a yearly review of their IP portfolio to determine what they are using, what you are not using, if they need additional IP, if their business has expanded into additional trademark classes/categories, and if they need additional protections are needed.

Your Honor: “Your Honor” in many jurisdictions is the proper way to address a judge.

YouTube Copyright Infringement: Copyright infringement on the online video platform YouTube, which has specific policies and procedures in place for handling copyright claims.


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Z “Zero Damages” to “Zombie Copyright”

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Zero Damages: Zeroed out on damages, but could potentially obtain equitable relief such as an injunction.  Zero damages could also result in the inability to recover attorney’s fees and punitive damages.

Zero Tolerance for Counterfeiting Policy: A policy that takes strong and immediate action against counterfeiting, including enforcement and prosecution of those infringing on intellectual property rights.

Zombie Copyright:  A copyright that is restored or that has been resurrected after it expired and the work placed in the public domain.  Copyright restoration is allowed in certain circumstances under Section 104A of the U.S. Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C.  

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