A

Adaptation

Adaptation is the act of altering a pre-existing work (either protected or in the public domain) or a traditional cultural expression, for a purpose other than for which it originally served, in a way that a new work comes into being, in which the elements of the pre-existing work and the new elements—added as a result of the alteration—merge together. Article 12 of the Berne Convention provides that authors of literary and artistic works shall enjoy the exclusive right of authorizing adaptations, arrangements and other alterations of their works.

All rights reserved

is a notice which indicates that all rights granted under copyright law are retained, including the rights to take legal action, if there is any infringement.

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

are procedures for resolving disputes out of court in a private forum, with the assistance of a qualified neutral intermediary chosen by the parties. The most common forms of alternative dispute resolution procedures are Mediation and Arbitration.

Applicant

is the individual or the company who files an application for registration of an IP right (e.g. a trade mark, a patent or a design) with the relevant IP office. The applicant will become the owner of the IP right once it is registered upon the conclusion of the application process. 

Arbitration

is one of the alternative dispute resolution mechanisms that parties may use to settle their disputes instead of going to court. Under this mechanism, the final decision is awarded by a neutral third party (‘arbitrator’) and shall be binding.

Artistic works

is one of the categories of works that is protected by the copyright; this term includes photographs, drawings, graphs, diagrams, plans and computer icons, amongst others.

Assignment of IPR

means the transfer of rights and obligations of an IPR to another individual or legal entity.

Authorship

the quality or state of being a creator (natural person) of a work. In order to be considered as an author, it is generally acknowledged that a certain level of creative contribution to a work must be met. Authorship entails certain moral rights, such as the right to attribution (i.e., to be named as the author), that cannot be transferred or licensed, and therefore will stay with the author even in a situation where he/she does not own the copyright.

B

Berne Convention

A treaty, administered by WIPO, for the protection of the rights of authors in their literary and artistic works.

Blockchain

is an incorruptible digital ledger of economic transactions that can be programmed to record not just financial transactions but virtually everything of value. It may be used to mark digital copyrights in a way that is both immutable and timestamped.

Blocking patents

patent applications which are strategically used as a barrier to pre-empt rivals from getting their patents granted and entering into markets and technologies.

Brand

identifies a specific product or name of a company as a sign of quality recognised by customers. A brand can be a trade mark if registered, but can also exist without being a trade mark.

C

Certification mark

(also called guarantee mark) is a trademark capable of distinguishing goods or services which have been certified by the owner as meeting certain requirements for certification. Unlike collective marks no membership to an association is necessary and all that is required is compliance with the standards in respect of material, mode of manufacture, quality or other characteristics set by the owner of the mark. A certification mark may not be owned by a natural or legal person currently engaged in the supply of goods or services which the trademark seeks to certify.

Circumvention devices

are primarily designed, produced or adapted for the purpose of enabling or facilitating the circumvention of technical measures that prevent unauthorised copying or restrict unauthorised access to copyright works.

Collective Mark

is a trademark capable of distinguishing the goods or services of the members of an association from those of undertakings external to the association. The trademark is owned by the association which must ensure that the standards required for its use are respected by all its members who use the mark in the course of trade.

Community Registered Design

is a design registered with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).

Throughout the European Union a new design with an individual character can be protected as a registered Community design, valid in all 28 EU Members States, renewable every 5 years up to a maximum of 25 years.

Computer-implemented invention (CII)

is an invention, which involves the use of a computer, computer network or other programmable apparatus, where one or more features are realised wholly or partly by means of a computer program.

Confidential information

 is information of a confidential nature that may include information of a personal, scientific, industrial, business, or commercial nature, that is not available to the public.

Confidentiality agreement

also known as non-disclosure agreement (NDA), refers to the written agreement that parties use when they wish to disclose information and ideas in confidence. This agreement therefore establishes the obligation of the recipient (i.e. the legal person to whom the information is disclosed) to not disclose the information and ideas to third parties. A confidentiality agreement is crucial for an inventor or any other party that needs to protect confidential information.

Copyright

is the legal right granted to an author, composer, playwright, publisher or distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of literary -, musical -, dramatic -, or artistic work.

COSME

is the Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, which runs from 2014 to 2020. It is an EU-funded programme meant to support enterprises and SMEs, in particular through measures aimed at facilitating their internationalisation, access to market, and access to finance. It is the successor to the Entrepreneurship and Innovation programme (EIP) under CIP.

Counterfeiting

a practice of intentional imitation of a genuine article and selling it under a genuine article’s brand name without the brand owner’s authorization with the intent to take advantage of the superior value of the imitated product.

Customs actions

are the measures taken by customs authorities against counterfeiting and piracy when goods suspected of infringing intellectual property rights are entering a customs territory in the EU. Such measures can be taken on the authorities’ own initiative or upon explicit request from a right holder. When goods suspected of infringing its intellectual property rights enter the territory of a Member State, the right holder may file a Customs Detention Order at the relevant customs authorities. Customs actions are an important instrument for the enforcement of IP rights.

D

Database

a collection of independent components (information, works, data or other materials) arranged in a methodical or systematic way and according to specific criteria, and made individually accessible by electronic or other means. Under EU law, the cumulative protection of databases is possible under copyright (if the arrangement of data meets the conditions of originality and creativity) and more broadly, under a sui generis right (provided that the arrangement of data has involved a qualitatively or quantitatively substantial investment).

Derivative Work

In copyright law, the term “derivative works” refers to the translations, adaptations, arrangements and similar alterations of preexisting works which are protected under
Article 2(3) of the Berne Convention as such without prejudice to the copyright in the preexisting works.  Sometimes, the term is used with a broader meaning, extending to the compilations/collections of works protected under Article 2(5) of the Convention, (as well a under Article 10.2 of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, 1994 (the TRIPS Agreement), and Article 5 of the WIPO Copyright Treaty, 1996 (WCT)). In this sense, a “derivative work” includes compilations of data or other material, whether in machine-readable or other form, which, by reason of the selection or arrangement of their contents, constitute intellectual creations. Works of compilation and collection have been protected under the Berne Convention along with other derivative works. The author’s moral right may limit the right of third parties to make a derivative work.  Therefore, even when a person is contractually or statutorily entitled to modify the work or to use it to create a derivative work, the author may object to any distortion of the work that is prejudicial to his or her reputation.

Design

constitutes the outward appearance of a product or part thereof resulting, in particular, from the characteristics of its lines, contours, colours, shape, surface, structure and/or materials and/or its ornamentation.

Disclosure

The first public disclosure of details of an invention. If the disclosure is made outside the patent system (in a deliberate form or otherwise), the invention remains unpatentable. In return for a patent granted (exclusive rights for a limited time period), the applicant must make a full disclosure of the invention for which protection has been solicited.

Domain Names

A combination of typographical characters corresponding to one or several numeric IP addresses which is registered with an accredited Registrar, and used to identify a particular website on the internet. Each domain name consists of two parts: a top-level domain (TLD – .com, .net, .org, .eu) and a second level domain, which represents the entity that owns the domain name. Although a domain name is unique and may be a valuable commercial asset, a domain name registration is not an intellectual property right.

Due diligence

See IP due diligence

E

Economic Rights

are a set of exclusive rights granted to a copyright owner (to authorize the reproduction, distribution and communication of a work to the public), which allow the owner of rights to derive financial reward(s) from the use of his works by others. These rights may be transferred or licensed, usually for a sum of money or royalties depending on the proposed usage of the work.

Enforcement (IP Enforcement)

legal actions, remedies, measures and procedures taken against IPR infringement. This includes, among others, stopping unauthorized use, deterring future infringements, and obtaining recovery for damages resulting from the infringing act.

Enterprise Europe Network

the European largest information and consultancy network which forms part of Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme and is aimed at providing innovation and business support to small business across the European Union. It consists of close to 600 business support organizations, such as chambers of commerce and industry, technology centers, research institutes and development agencies from 49 countries worldwide. The European Commission’s Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI) is responsible for managing the Network on a daily basis.

Equitable Remuneration

Equitable remuneration refers to the remuneration of certain acts carried out in respect of a work or an object of related rights in an amount and in a manner consistent with what may be regarded as normal commercial standards in case of authorization of the same act by the owner of a copyright or related rights.  Such remuneration is usually payable when economic rights are reduced to a right to remuneration (and, in general, applied on the basis of a non-voluntary license). The WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, 1996 (WPPT), provides that performers and producers of phonograms enjoy the right to a single equitable remuneration for the direct or indirect use of phonograms, published for commercial purposes, for broadcasting or for communication to the public (Article 15(1)).  However, any Contracting Party may restrict or – provided that it makes a reservation to the Treaty – deny this right (Article 15(3)). 

Escrow agreement

it is an agreement by which one party deposits an asset with a third person (called an escrow agent) who will in turn make delivery to another party if and when specified conditions occur.

EUIPO

is the agency of the European Union in charge of managing the EU trade mark and the registered Community design. It was previously known as the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM). 

European Economic Interest Group (EEIG)

is a legal instrument created by Council Regulation 2137/85 of 25 July 1985 to aid transnational cooperation between economic operators, particularly, small and medium-sized enterprises, for the realization of a specific project in a flexible form of association and on an equal legal footing while maintaining their economic and legal independence. EEIG is recognized in all EU member states and must be formed by at least of two members from different member states.

European Patent

is obtained by presenting a single application and following a European centralized procedure in the EPO, where a patent granted turns into a bundle of as many national patents as countries chosen in the application. The holder of this patent is conferred the same rights as would be conferred to a patent granted in the respective countries designated in the application.

European Patent Office (EPO)

The European Patent Office (a regional patents office) was created by the European Patent Convention (EPC) to grant European patents, based on a centralized examination procedure.

European Union trade mark

is a trade mark which is registered at the EUIPO in accordance with the conditions contained in Regulation 207/2009 on the European Union trade mark, as a result of which protection is obtained in the whole territory of the European Union. 

Exhaustion

In intellectual property protection, the principle that once a product has been sold on a market, the intellectual property owner no longer has any rights over it. (A debate among WTO member governments is whether this applies to products put on the market under compulsory licences.) Countries’ laws vary as to whether the right continues to be exhausted if the product is imported from one market into another, which affects the owner’s rights over trade in the protected product.

Exceptions

The term “exceptions” sets the limits of the use of a copyrighted work.  Exceptions are closely concerned with the acts that relate to the protected elements.  Sometimes the word “exception” covers legislative decisions which remove certain original creations from the owner’s monopoly (the text of laws or judicial decisions, for example) but, on the whole, it is a question of determining what uses of protected elements are neither subject to authorization nor remuneration. The Berne Conventionprovides for the application of a three-step test to determine the permissibility of exceptions: 
(i)  the exception may only cover certain special cases;  (ii)  the exception must not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work and (iii) must not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the rights of right owners.

Exclusive License Agreement

is a contract licensing intellectual property to another party for its exclusive use and/or economic benefit.

F

Fair Practice

The Berne Convention uses the expression “fair practice” in certain provisions on exceptions to copyright protection (see
Article 10(1) concerning quotations, and Article 10(2) on free utilization of works—to the extent justified by the purpose—by way of illustration for teaching).  For determining what kind of practice may be regarded as “fair,” the criteria of the three-step test should be taken into account.

Filing Date (patents)

is the date at which all necessary requirements for filing of a patent application have been complied with. In case of multiple applications for one same patent in several country the filing date of the first application will also act as the priority date.

Folklore

As defined in the UNESCO Recommendation on the Safeguarding of Traditional Culture and Folklore (1989), “folklore (or traditional and popular culture) is the totality of tradition-based creations, of a cultural community, expressed by a group or individuals and recognized as reflecting the expectations of a community in so far as they reflect its cultural and social identity; its standards and values are transmitted orally, by imitation or by other means. Its forms are, among others, language, literature, music, dance, games, mythology, rituals, customs, handicrafts, architecture and other arts.”

Franchising agreement

a contract under which one entity (the franchisor), that has developed a proven model for conducting a particular business, allows one or more other entities (the franchisees) to use that business model, along with the right to use the franchisor’s intellectual property and know-how for a defined period of time in exchange for payment. The intellectual property rights that are licensed in a franchising agreement include trade marks and copyright, and often trade secrets, industrial designs and patents – depending on the particular business. The authorisation may also be given with regards to other distinctive signs, such as trade names.

FRAND

“Fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory” describes a type of licensing terms. Such terms are typically requested by standardisation organisations in the context of the standard-setting process, in respect of the licensing of patents linked to certain standards.

Free software

means computer software whose users have the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve it.

According to the definition of the Free Software Movement, a program is a free software if the program’s users have the four essential freedoms:

• The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 1).
• The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish (freedom 2). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 3).
• The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others (freedom 4). By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

Freedom to operate search

refers to searches on intellectual property rights databases (such as patent databases) aimed at determining whether a product’s commercialisation could infringe third parties’ rights.

G

Geographical Indication (GI)

is a sign identifying products having a specific geographical origin and whose particular qualities and/or reputation are attributable to that origin.

Grace Period

In some countries the grace period allows for public disclosure of an invention (under certain conditions) without affecting the validity of a subsequent patent application, provided that a complete application is filed within 6 or 12 months of the disclosure.

H

Hague System

is the International registration system of industrial design administered by WIPO allowing the registration of up to 100 designs in over 65 territories through filing one single international application.

Harmonised Database

is a multilingual database of descriptions of goods and services that have been agreed to be acceptable classification terms by OHIM and national IP offices in the EU, used when applying for a trade mark.

I

ICANN

the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is the organisation responsible for the Internet’s global Domain Name System (DNS). Through its Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), ICANN provides a tool for the resolution of domain name conflicts based on alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.

ICT

is the abbreviation for Information and Communications Technology. The term refers to technologies that provide access to information through telecommunications. This includes the Internet, wireless networks, cell phones, and other communication devices.

Industrial applicability

is one of the three basic patentability requirements under the European Patent Convention. An invention will be considered capable of industrial application if it can be made or used in any kind of industry. This requirement is to be understood in a broad sense: it includes for instance applications in the agricultural field. See also: Inventive step and Novelty.

Industrial Design

is an intellectual property right aimed at protecting the appearance of products, in particular resulting from its lines, contours, colours, shape and materials.

It consists of the right to prevent any third party from making, offering, selling, importing, exporting or using a product in which the design is incorporated or to which it is applied, or stocking such a product, without the design owner’s consent, when such acts are undertaken for commercial purposes.

Infringement

a violation or infraction of the terms of an agreement, encroachment, trespass, or disregard of others’ rights. Intellectual property infringement will refer to a breach of rights resulting from a patent, copyright, database right, performer right, design, trade mark, etc.

Injunctive relief

is a legal remedy that may be sought in a civil lawsuit (in addition to, or in place of, monetary damages) to stop an unlawful behaviour.

Intellectual Property (IP)

Is a term referred to types of property that result from creations of the human mind (the intellect). In a broad sense, it comprises patents, copyright and related rights, trade marks, know-how, trade secrets, industrial designs, designs, drawings, reports, methods of research and developments, documented data, and description of inventions and discoveries.

Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs)

are private legal rights that protect the creation of the human mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce. They are commonly divided into two categories:  Industrial Property Rights (e.g. patents, trade marks, industrial designs, geographical indications) and Copyright and Related rights (e.g. rights of the authors/creators and those of performing artists in their performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and those of broadcasters in their radio and television programmes).

International Patent Application

is a patent application filed through the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

International Patent Classification (ICP)

The International Patent Classification (IPC) is “a hierarchical system in which the whole area of technology is divided into a range of sections, classes, subclasses and groups. The Classification is a language independent tool indispensable for the retrieval of patent documents in the search for ‘prior art’.”

Inventive step

is one of the three basic patentability requirements under the European Patent Convention. It means that an invention must be non-obvious to a person skilled in the field, having regard to the state of the art, in order to be patentable. See also: Industrial applicability and Novelty.

Inventorship

the quality or state of being an inventor (a person who conceived an invention). In order to be considered as an inventor it is generally acknowledged that a certain level of contribution to the development of the creative elements of an invention (technical creativity) must be met. Inventors are always entitled to be designated on the patent, regardless of who files the application. An inventor is not necessarily always the owner of the rights in his invention, as the rights to patent grant might have been assigned to a different subject.

IP due diligence

Intended as the exercise to gather as much information as possible on the value and the risks of a company’s intangible assets, with a view to acquiring IP, raising capital and seeking financial assistance (e.g. bank loans). Although IP due diligence is a precondition for any capital investment, it can be helpful for enforcing IP rights and reducing the IP-related costs as well. In a few words, IP due diligence can be considered as an essential process when developing an IP strategy.

IP Valuation

is an assessment of the value of a particular IP asset. IP valuation may be quantitative or qualitative in nature. There are a variety of methods to value IP.

J

Joint authorship

When several individuals work together to create a single work, then all are co-authors of an undivided entire work and have joint ownership.

Joint ownership

refers to the situation where two or more legal entities share the ownership of the same asset. In the context of Horizon 2020, joint ownership of results arises whenever (i) several participants have jointly generated them, and (ii) it is not possible to establish the respective contribution of each participant, or  separate the results for the purpose of applying, obtaining or maintaining their protection.

Joint venture (or joint undertaking)

It is a collaboration of two or more companies to undertake a common project or to pursue a specific objective. To this end, co-venturers bring together their common ressources and capabilities, such as project funding, capital equipment, know-how and intellectual property. The joint venture has the scope to create a legally independent company to develop a competitive advantage by commercialising a new product or service (IP).

K

Know-how

means a package of non-patented practical information (of a technical, commercial, administrative, financial or other nature), resulting from experience and testing, which is secret, substantial and identifiable.

L

License Agreement

The contract under which the owner of an intellectual property right (‘licensor’) gives permission to another individual or entity (‘licensee’) to use the rights for a period of time and within defined territory, without such permission, for instance, would infringe on patent or trademark right.  Therefore the license can allow the licensee to legitimately use, sell, offer to sell, and import the invention protected by intellectual property right. In return, in the majority of the cases, the licensor receives royalty payments. Signing a license agreement does not transfer the ownership of the invention to the licensee.

Likelihood of confusion

is a concept, which will be applied in a situation of trade mark registration (opposition) or infringement proceedings in order to determine, if an entity’s sign is similar to another entity’s registered trade mark, identifying similar goods and services and therefore leading the relevant consuming public to believe that these goods and services originate from that other entity.

Limitations

“Limitation,” refers to the act of limiting. The word “limits,” in addition to “exceptions,” refers to “boundaries” or “restrictions”. In order to maintain an appropriate balance between the interests of rights holders and users of protected works, copyright laws allow certain limitations on economic rights, that is, cases in which protected works may be used without the authorization of the right holder and with or without payment of compensation. The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (1971)sets  conditions under which authors’ rights could be limited, and free uses therefore permitted.
A three-step-test has been devised to determine the conditions under which an act of limitation may be carried out. This test has been extended to Article 13 of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS Agreement), Article 10 of the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT), as a test for exceptions and limitations on all economic rights under copyright.  Article 16 of the WIPO Performances and Phonographs Treaty (WPPT) extends it to rights of performers and producers of phonograms covered by that treaty.

Lisbon Agreement

Treaty, administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), for the protection of geographical indications and their international registration.

Locarno Classification

is an international classification system used to classify goods for the registration of industrial designs, and is administered by WIPO. This classification is currently used by more than 50 national offices and by organisations such as EUTM and WIPO.

M

Madrid System

is an international system, managed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), for obtaining and maintaining trade mark protection in multiple countries with a single application, in one language and under payment of one set of fees.

Mediation

is a process whereby two or more parties to a dispute attempt to reach an agreement on the settlement of their dispute on a voluntary basis and with the assistance of a mediator. Mediation is non-binding and the mediator acts only as a neutral intermediary with no power to decide if the mediation has failed.

Moral rights

are personal rights granted to the creator of a copyright work, which consists of protecting the integrity and right of attribution of work. These rights cannot be assigned or licensed.

N

Nice Classification

is an international classification system for goods and services that is used for the registration of trade marks. The system is administered by WIPO and updated regularly. It currently comprises 45 classes in total: 34 for goods and 11 for services. The Nice Classification is used in around 150 IP offices worldwide, including organisations such as EUIPO and WIPO.

Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)

see confidentiality agreement.

Non-Exclusive License

is when the licensor retains the right to grant an unlimited number of licenses to third parties.

Novelty

is one of the three basic patentability requirements under the European Patent Convention. It means that the invention must not form part of the state of the art, that is, that it must never have been disclosed to the public in any way, anywhere, before the date of filing of the patent application (or before the priority date). See also: Industrial applicability and Inventive step.

O

Open Source Software

means computer software with an open source code; “open” in this case means made available to the general public in order that the software can be studied, changed and/or improved.

Criteria that open source software must comply can be found at Open Source Initiative. 

Originality

is one of the requirements for copyright protection. The test to determine whether a work will considered original is to ask if it can be defined as the author’s own intellectual creation.

Ownership of IP rights

the state or quality of being an owner of a proprietary right.  It enables its holder to exercise exclusive rights of use in relation to the subject matter of the IP and to restrict others from using these IP rights.

P

Paris Convention

Treaty, administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), for the protection of industrial intellectual property, i.e. patents, utility models, industrial designs, etc.

Patent

is granted by a government agency which, as a result, grants the recipient intellectual property rights, which confers on its owner the exclusive right to prevent third parties from commercially exploiting – making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention, which is protected by patent for a limited period of time (generally 20 years).

Patent protection is granted for inventions, which are products or processes, provided that they are new, involve an inventive step and is capable of industrial application. In order to obtain patent protection, technical information about the invention must be disclosed to the public in a patent application.

Patent Attorney

is a professional qualified in a scientific discipline and qualified to act in the obtainment of patent and design registrations.

Patent claim

defines the subject matter and technical features of the invention which are ‘claimed’ by the applicant/owner for exclusivity. Claims are expected to be short and supported by description section of the patent.

Patent Pool

a portfolio of patents in the same technology domain, generally owned by different parties who agreed to jointly license them.

Patentability

Patentability is the ability of an invention to satisfy the legal requirements for obtaining a patent. The invention must be novel, contain an inventive step (or be non-obvious), be capable of industrial application and not be in certain excluded fields (e.g. scientific theories and mathematical methods, these inventions cannot be patented at the EPO).

Piracy

an unauthorized copying, use, reproduction and/or distribution of materials protected by intellectual property rights for commercial purposes.

Prior Art

is a legal term referring to information previously disclosed to the public in any form (e.g. publications, documents, written articles, devices known, on sale, or used by the public, etc.) and any place (inside the national territory and outside) relating to the invention before its priority date. In Europe, Article 54(2) of the European Patent Convention (EPC) defines the equivalent term “the state of the art”.

Priority Country

is the country where the patent is first filed before being extended to other countries.

Priority Date

Priority date is the first filing date of a patent application, anywhere in the world (normally in the applicant’s domestic patent office), to protect an invention. The priority date is used to determine the novelty of the invention, which implies that it is an important concept in patent procedures.

Proprietary Software

refers to any computer software that is owned by an individual or a company and cannot be copied, used, modified or distributed by the others without having permission of its owner; its source code is almost always kept secret.

Public Body

means any legal entity established as such by national law, and international organisations.

Public Domain

is referred to when expired exclusive intellectual property right is made available for unrestricted use to the public. In a copyright context, a work is considered to be in the public domain if there is no legal restriction for its use by the public.

R

Related Rights (or neighbouring rights)

are rights related to the protection of works of authorship under copyright, but are not granted to the author. The purpose of related rights is to protect the legal interests of certain persons and legal entities who contribute to making works available to the public. They include those of performing artists in their performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and those of broadcasters in their radio and television programs.

Resale royalty right / droit de suite

is the right of the author of an original work of graphic or plastic art, or of his/her heirs, to an economic interest in successive sales of the work concerned. This concerns sales on the secondary art market, such as auctions. This right exists in all EU Member States, as it has been harmonised by Directive 2001/84/EC.

Rome Convention

Treaty, administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and International Labour Organization (ILO), for the protection of the works of performers, broadcasting organizations and producers of phonograms.

Royalty

is a payment made to a right holder for the use of the intellectual property which it owns, such as a patent, trade mark, or copyrighted work. Royalties can be freely negotiated but usually constitute a percentage of the revenues obtained by using the owner’s right. They are the most used remuneration method in the context of licence agreements.

RTD

refers to research and technological development and demonstration activities. They are aimed at advancing significantly in the established state-of-the-art.

S

SMEs

refers to enterprises which employ fewer than 250 persons and which have an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million, and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million.

Spin-off

a new, separate and independent company created from an existing company or organisation. The creation of spin-off is also one of the technology transfer mechanisms through which knowledge and/or intellectual property are transferred and commercially exploited.

Standard Essential Patents (SEPs)

patents on technologies that are comprised in an industry standard and that would be necessarily infringed by implementing standard specifications.

State of the art

see Prior art.

Sui Generis

The term “sui generis” is used in intellectual property law to describe a regime designed to protect rights that fall outside the traditional patent, trademark, copyright, and trade-secret doctrines.  For example, a database may not be protected by copyright law if its content is not original, but it could be protected by a sui generis statute designed for that purpose.”

Supplementary protection certificate (SPC)

is the extension of the duration of a patent right after its expiration date, applicable to some biologically active agents such as medicinal products. SPCs usually last for a maximum of 5 years; furthermore, the total market exclusivity duration of the patent and the SPC cannot together exceed 15 years. SPCs are justified by the long waiting time for regulatory approval of these products, which delays their introduction on the market.

T

Technology transfer

in the terms of the Enterprise Europe Network, it can be described as the successful application and/or adaptation of a technology developed in one organisation to meet the needs of one or more other organisations. The transferred technology shall be innovative for the recipient.

A technology transfer not only includes transfer between organisations but also between different industrial sectors. A technology transfer is deemed to have been achieved once a licensing agreement, a joint venture agreement, a manufacturing agreement, and/or a commercial agreement with technical assistance has been signed.

Technology Transfer Agreement

is the assignment of technological intellectual property, developed and generated in one place, to another through legal means such as technology licensing or franchising.

Third Country

in the context of FP7 and Horizon 2020 the term “third country” designates any country/territory that is not a European Union Member State country or an overseas country or territory linked to a European Union country.

Third party

means a person or a legal entity which does not participate in the same project, even though such a third party may participate in another FP7 project. If foreseen in the Grant Agreement, some third parties may carry out some work in the project (e.g. subcontractors, affiliates or members of a joint research unit). However, such third parties do not become participants.

Trade mark

consists of any sign capable of being represented graphically, particularly words, including personal names, designs, letters, numerals, the shape of goods or of their packaging, provided that such signs are capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings.

Trade name

A name used to identify business, as distinguished from a trade mark which identifies goods or services as produced or marketed by a particular undertaking. A trade name does not have to be identical with the corporate/legal name entered in a commercial register.

Trade secret

refers to information which meets the following requirements:

• it is secret, meaning that it is not, as a body or in the precise configuration and assembly of its components, generally known among or readily accessible to persons within the circles that normally deal with the kind of information in question;
• it has commercial value because it is secret; and
• it has been subject to reasonable steps under the circumstances, by the person in control of the information, to keep it secret.

Transaction

refers to a specific part of the grant agreement (Annex I) in the thematic “Research for SMEs“ and “Research for SME associations“ where participants agree on the conditions of the ownership of the results, access rights to be provided to any SME participant or SME Association and the remuneration of the RTD performers. The transaction is concluded with the approval of REA.

TRIPS agreement

is an international agreement establishing minimum standards for IP regulation in the context of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

TRP

Tangible Research Property is defined for purposes of a policy as tangible (or corporeal) items produced in the course of research projects supported by external sponsors. TRP include items as: biological materials, engineering drawings, computer software, integrated circuit chips, computer databases, prototype devices, circuit diagrams, equipment.

U

Unitary patent

is a single European patent with unitary effect for the EU Member States involved in an enhanced cooperation. In order to obtain a unitary effect, patent holders need to request the unitary effect at the European Patent Office (EPO) within one month of the date of publication of the grant of the patent in the European Patent Bulletin. The unitary patent will be a third option for companies or inventors seeking patent protection in Europe in addition to national patents and ‘classical’ European patents (i.e. without unitary effect).

Unregistered Community design

is a form of protection for industrial designs fulfilling the conditions of protection – novelty and individual character.  The protection lasts for a period of three years and is acquired through the first disclosure or use in trade of a design within the European Union. The Unregistered Community design constitutes a right to prevent the commercial use of the design only if the use results from copying.

Use

in the framework of FP7, use means the direct or indirect utilisation of foreground in further research activities other than those covered by the project, as well as for developing, creating and marketing a product or process or for creating and providing a service (using the results commercially or in industry).

Utility model

is one of the intellectual property rights that protects technical solutions like the invention with the fact that there is sufficient low level of inventiveness. The protection period is shorter than for patents (often 6 to 10 years).

W

WIPO

is an agency of the United Nations that functions as a global forum for IP, providing several services (including arbitration and mediation (e.g. domain names disputes), international registration systems for patents, trade marks, designs and appellations of origin), policy discussion, technical infrastructure, cooperation programs and information on intellectual property. WIPO administers 26 treaties and occupies a prominent role in the global IP landscape.