Legal Entity: An organization or person with legal rights.
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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 by asserted by the IP owner.
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Knowledge: Knowledge to possess information or knowledge.
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Knock-Out Search: A type of trademark search to quickly find existing trademarks that may prevent registration of the potential mark being searched.
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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.
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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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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.
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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.
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Joint Application: A patent application jointly filed by two or more individuals or entities who are co-inventors of the same invention.
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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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IT: Information Technology
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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).
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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).
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IPR: Intellectual Property Rights.
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IP: Intellectual Property.
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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.
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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 each inventor must be identified in the patent application.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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