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.
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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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Express Abandonment: A statement by an applicant or registrant indicating the voluntary abandonment of a patent or trademark application or registration.
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Excusable Nonuse: A trademark law defense where nonuse of a trademark is deemed acceptable under certain circumstances.
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Exclusive Right: The power or privilege a party has under IP law (patent, trademark, and copyright) to exclude others from certain actions.
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Examining Attorney: An attorney employed by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPT)), who examines either patent or trademark applications.
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Examiner’s Amendment: An amendment to a trademark or patent application made by an examining attorney.
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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.
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Ex Parte Appeal: An appeal where the appeal board reviews the patent examiner’s decision without the other party present.
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EU: European Union.
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eTEAS: Electronic Trademark Examination Application System.
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eTAS: Electronic Trademark Assignment System.
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ESTTA: Electronic System for Trademark Trials and Appeals.
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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.
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EPO: European Patent Office
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Ensnarement Defense: A strategy in patent litigation where the scope of the patent’s claims cover prior art, which invalidates the claim.
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Enforceability of Patent: Patents are presumed to be valid and enforceable unless shown by clear and convincing evidence to be invalid.
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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.
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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.
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Embodiment: A specific description or application of an idea, concept, or invention, which may not be limiting to the scope of the patent.
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