Florida Law Firm > Intellectual Property Terms
Intellectual Property Terms
Most Businesses Possess at Least Some Intellectual Property
Terms are provided to help define a better understanding about IP Intellectual Property topics. Contact our Florida intellectual property attorneys to get all your IP questions answered.
ASSIGNMENT :
A transfer of rights in intellectual property.
AUTHOR :
Either the person who creates a copyrightable work or the employer of a person who creates a copyrightable work within the scope of employment.
BERNE CONVENTION :
The major multilateral copyright treaty, signed in Berne, Switzerland, in 1886.
The Berne Convention, whose members form the Berne Union, is adhered to by more than 75 nations.
BEST MODE :
A condition for the grant of a patent.
An inventor must describe the best method he or she knows for carrying out the invention.
COMMUNITY TRADE MARK (CTM) :
A trademark registration granted by the European Community Trademark Office and enforceable throughout EC member nations.
CONTRIBUTORY INFRINGEMENT :
Indirect infringement of intellectual property rights in which one person contributes to the direct act of infringement of another.
COPYING :
In copyright law, "copying" denotes two separate but interrelated concepts.
COPYRIGHT :
An exclusive right conferred by the government on the creator of a work to exclude others from reproducing it, adapting it, distributing it to the public, performing it in public, or displaying it in public.
COUNTERFEITING :
The act of producing or selling a product containing an intentional and calculated reproduction of a genuine trademark.
DESCRIPTIVE MARK :
A word, picture, or other symbol that describes something about the goods or services in connection with which it is used, such as their purpose, their size and color, the class of users, or the end effect on users.
DILUTION :
A type of infringement of a trademark in which the defendant's use, while not causing likelihood of confusion, tarnishes the image or blurs the distinctiveness of the owner's mark.
DOMAIN NAMES :
The names and words that companies designate for their registered Internet Web site addresses.
Trademark disputes arise when more than one company tries to use the same domain name, or one company appropriates another company's brand or product name for its URL.
DURATION :
The term or length of time that an intellectual property right lasts.
FAIR USE :
A defense to a charge of copyright or trademark infringement.
FUNCTIONALITY :
That aspect of design that makes a product work better for its intended purpose, as opposed to making the product look better or to identifying its commercial source.
GENERIC NAME :
A word used by most people to name a class or category of product or service, such as "personal computer" or "cellular phone." No one person may have trademark rights to a generic name.
GOODWILL :
The value of a business or of a line of goods or services, beyond its tangible assets, that reflects its commercial reputation.
INFRINGEMENT :
An invasion of an exclusive right of intellectual property.
Infringement of a trademark consists of the unauthorized use or imitation of a mark that is the property of another in order to deceive, confuse, or mislead others.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY :
Creative ideas and expressions of the human mind that have commercial value and receive the legal protection of a property right.
The major legal mechanisms for protecting intellectual property rights are copyrights, patents, and trademarks.
INTENT-TO-USE APPLICATION :
Since 1989 in the United States, an optional method of applying for federal registration of a trademark based on a declared intention to use the mark on specific goods or services.
KNOCK-OFF :
An identical copy of a work or product that is protected by patent, trademark, trade dress, or copyright.
LANHAM ACT :
The Lanham Act defines the statutory and common law boundaries to trademarks and service marks.
The Lanham Act defines the scope of a trademark, the process by which a federal registration can be obtained from the Patent and Trademark Office for a trademark, and penalties for trademark infringement.
LICENSE :
A permission to use an intellectual property right within a defined time, context, market line, or territory.
A trademark or service mark can be validly licensed only if the licensor controls the nature and quality of the goods or services sold by the licensee under the licensed mark.
MISAPPROPRIATION :
A common law form of unfair competition in which an individual or firm copies or appropriates some creation of another that is not protected by patent, copyright, or trademark law, or any other traditional theory of exclusive rights.
NOTICE :
A formal sign or notification attached to items that embody or reproduce an intellectual property right.
Many firms use informal trademark notices, such as "Brand," "TM," "Trademark," "SM," or "Service Mark," adjacent to words or other symbols considered to be protectable marks.
PASSING OFF :
(1) The substitution of one brand of goods for another.
(2) Trademark infringement in which the infringer intentionally means to mislead or deceive purchasers.
(3) Trademark infringement in which there is no proof of intent to deceive but likelihood of confusion can be proven.
PATENT :
A grant by the federal government to an inventor of the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling his or her invention.
PUBLIC DOMAIN :
The status of an invention, creative work, commercial symbol, or any other creation that is not protected by some form of intellectual property.
RENEWAL :
The extension of a registration of a trademark or the extension of a copyright.
SECONDARY MEANING :
A meaning for a trademark or service mark that customers associate with a particular brand of products or services.
This acquired distinctiveness is known as "secondary meaning" because it is acquired second in time to the primary meaning of a word.
SERVICE MARK :
A word, slogan, design, picture, or any other symbol used to identify and distinguish a service (hotel and restaurant services, sales services, investment services, and the like) as opposed to a product.
SUGGESTIVE MARK :
A word, picture, or other symbol that suggests, but does not directly describe, something about a good or service in connection with which it is used as a mark.
SUPPLEMENTAL REGISTER :
A register of words, symbols, package trade dress, product or container shapes, or slogans that do not qualify for registrable trademark status but can achieve trademark status once they acquire secondary meaning.
TRADE DRESS :
The totality of elements in which a product or service is packaged, such as the shape and appearance of a product or container, the cover of a book or magazine, and the distinctive and recognizable shape of an automobile.
TRADEMARK :
1.
A word, slogan, design, picture, or other symbol used to identify and distinguish goods.
2.
Any identifying symbol, including a word, design, or shape of a product or container, that qualifies for legal status as a trademark, service mark, collective mark, certification mark, trade name, or trade dress.
TRADE NAME :
A symbol used to identify and distinguish companies, partnerships, and businesses, as opposed to marks used to identify and distinguish goods or services.
TRADE SECRET :
Business information that is the subject of reasonable efforts to preserve confidentiality and has value because it is not generally known in the trade.
UNFAIR COMPETITION :
Commercial conduct that the law views as unjust, giving a civil claim against a person who has been injured by the conduct.
Trademark infringement has long been considered to be unfair competition.
Contact our Intellectual Property rights lawyers today, they know the IP laws and your rights
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