Disparaging term for a person or company that hoards patents for the purpose of threatening alleged infringers with legal action. Usually, the patent troll holds patents that are vague and ambiguous and seeks to enforce patent rights extending beyond...
intellectual property
perpetuity
Perpetuity means something that continues indefinitely. In finance, this can refer to an annuity–rather, a cash flow–that continues on forever. As stated by Finance Formulas, a perpetuity is an annuity that is paid out in periodic payments...
piracy
In legal usage, piracy can mean either:
1) crimes such as robbery, kidnapping, or similar violent and destructive activities on the high seas. The trial and punishment of such pirates may be under international law, or under the laws of the...
plagiarism
Plagiarism is the act of taking a person’s original work and presenting it as if it was one’s own. Plagiarism is not illegal in the United States in most situations. Instead it is considered a violation of honor or ethics codes and can result...
plant patent
Different from a tuber propagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state, a plant patent refers to a plant that is invented or discovered and asexually reproduced, and is granted patent by the USPTO. The patent lasts for 20 years from the...
PPA
A provisional patent application (PPA) is an application an inventor files before the formal patent claim is ready. A PPA allows the inventor to use the PPA filing date in a later filed nonprovisional patent application. Filing dates are...
principal register
Set out by federal statute 15 U.S.C. 1051, it is the primary list on which trademarks that meet certain federal filing standards are placed. To have a trademark placed on the principal register, the owner must pay a fee and file their application with...
prior art
Prior art is a concept in patent law that refers to all information of an invention that is publicly available. Prior art is crucial in patent examination as it helps patent examiners determine whether an invention meets the novelty and...
priority
Priority refers to the order of preference given to different interests or rights. Priority appears in multiple areas of law regarding debt, equity, bankruptcy, and patents. The most common appearance of priority arises in relations among...
private property
Private property refers to the ownership of property by private parties - essentially anyone or anything other than the government. Private property may consist of real estate, buildings, objects, intellectual property (copyright, patent,...