Intellectual Property Glossary

Appellation of Origin:  A term that refers to both a product's geographic origin and to its distinctive product characteristics caused by particular geographic conditions or methods of production,

Berne Convention:  The major multilateral copyright treaty, signed in Berne, Switzerland, in 1886.

Community Trade Mark (CTM):  A trademark registration granted by the European Community Trademark Office and enforceable throughout EC member nations.

Dependent Claim:  A claim in a patent that refers back to a previous claim and defines an invention that is narrower in scope than that in the previous claim.

Economic Espionage Act (EEA):  A U.S. statute, adopted in 1996, which provides criminal penalties for the theft of trade secrets.

Fair Use:  A defense to a charge of copyright or trademark infringement.

Generic Name:  A word used by most people to name a class or category of product or service, such as "cellular phone."

Idea-Expression Dichotomy:  The fundamental rule of law that copyright does not protect an idea; copyright protects only specific expressions of an idea.

Joint Authors:  The collaborating creators of a single copyrightable work who merge their separate contributions to the work.

Knock-Off:  An identical copy of a work or product protected by patent, trademark, trade dress, copyright.

License:  A permission to use an intellectual property right, under defined conditions -- as to time, context, market line, or territory.

Misappropriation:  A common-law form of unfair competition where the defendant has copied or appropriated some item or creation of the plaintiff that is not protected by either patent law, copyright law, trademark law, or any other traditional theory of exclusive rights.