Reference

IP glossary

Plain-English definitions of the intellectual property terms that come up across jurisdictions. General information, not legal advice.

A

Absolute grounds: Objections to a trade mark that arise from the mark itself rather than from earlier rights. Typical examples are signs that are descriptive, non-distinctive, generic, or contrary to public policy. The exact grounds and how strictly they are applied vary by jurisdiction.
Assignment: The outright transfer of ownership of an intellectual property right from one party to another, usually in writing. It differs from a licence, where the owner keeps the right but permits someone else to use it. Learn more.

B

Bad faith: Dishonest or improper intent in seeking or using a right, for example registering a trade mark you know belongs to another business in order to block or exploit it. Many trade mark systems allow a registration obtained in bad faith to be challenged.
Berne Convention: The principal international treaty on copyright. It requires member countries to protect works from other member countries automatically, without registration formalities, and sets minimum standards such as a baseline term of protection. Learn more.

C

Cease and desist: A formal letter demanding that someone stop conduct said to infringe an intellectual property right, often before any court action. It sets out the right relied on and the action required. Sending one is a legal step best taken on local advice.
Central attack: A feature of the Madrid System where, for an initial dependency period, the international registration relies on the home or basic mark. If the basic mark falls away in that period, the international registration can be cancelled too. Learn more.
Certification mark: A mark indicating that goods or services meet a defined standard, such as quality, origin, or method of production, certified by the mark owner. It is used by traders who meet the standard rather than to distinguish one trader.
Classification: The system of grouping goods and services into numbered classes for trade mark filing, most commonly the Nice Classification. The classes you choose define the scope of protection, and how many you cover is a common cost driver at the relevant office. Learn more.
Coexistence agreement: A contract between two parties with similar marks setting out how each may use its mark to avoid conflict, for example by limiting goods, services, or territories. It can resolve disputes without litigation but should be drafted with local advice.
Collective mark: A mark owned by an association and used by its members to show membership or a shared characteristic, such as a trade body badge. It distinguishes the goods or services of members from those of non-members.
Copyright: A right that protects original creative works such as writing, music, art, software, and film. In most countries it arises automatically on creation, without registration, and lasts for a long term, commonly the life of the author plus a set number of years. Learn more.
Counterfeiting: The making or selling of fake goods that copy a protected trade mark or design, typically to deceive buyers. It is distinct from grey-market or parallel goods, which are genuine items sold outside authorised channels. Learn more.

D

Designation: Naming a specific country or regional office in an international application, such as under the Madrid System for trade marks or the Hague System for designs. Each designated office then examines the application under its own law. Learn more.
Distinctiveness: The capacity of a trade mark to identify the goods or services of one business and set them apart from others. Invented or arbitrary marks are usually strongly distinctive; descriptive or generic terms are weak and may be refused.

E

Exhaustion of rights: The principle that once a genuine product is sold with the owner's consent, the owner can no longer use IP rights to control its further resale within the relevant territory. Whether exhaustion is national, regional, or international varies by jurisdiction. Learn more.

F

Fair dealing / fair use: Exceptions that allow limited use of a copyright work without permission, for purposes such as quotation, criticism, news, or research. The scope differs sharply between countries, so what is permitted in one may infringe in another. Learn more.
Filing date: The date an application is officially received by an IP office. It fixes your place in the queue and is the reference point for many deadlines. It can differ from a claimed priority date based on an earlier application elsewhere.
First-to-file: A system in which rights are granted to the first party to file an application, rather than the first to use the mark or invention. Almost all countries grant patents on this basis, and many also apply it to trade marks, though some, notably the United States, give significant weight to who used the mark first. Where first-to-file applies, early filing matters.
Freedom to operate: An assessment of whether a product or process can be made and sold in a market without infringing others' existing IP rights there. It is a risk review separate from whether your own IP is registrable or valid.

G

Genericide: The loss of trade mark protection when a brand name becomes the common word for the product itself, so it no longer identifies one source. Owners guard against it by using the mark as an adjective alongside the generic product name.
Geographical indication: A sign used on products with a specific geographical origin and qualities or reputation linked to that place. Protection systems differ widely between countries and regional blocs, both in scope and in the products covered.
Goodwill: The reputation and customer attraction that a business builds in its brand. In some common-law systems goodwill, rather than registration, is what an action such as passing off protects, so use and reputation can matter even without a registered mark.
Grace period: A limited window, available in some countries, during which an inventor's or designer's own earlier disclosure does not destroy the novelty of a later application. It is not universal, so disclosing before filing remains risky as a general rule.

H

Hague System: A WIPO-administered route for protecting industrial designs in multiple member territories through a single international application. It centralises filing and management but does not create one global design right; each designated office applies its own law. Learn more.

I

Infringement: Use of a protected right without authorisation, such as using a confusingly similar trade mark, copying a patented invention, or reproducing a copyright work. What counts as infringement, and the available remedies, are set by the law of each territory.
International registration: A single registration recorded by WIPO that designates several member territories, used under the Madrid System for trade marks and the Hague System for designs. It is a bundle of national rights managed centrally, not a single worldwide right. Learn more.

L

Licence: Permission from an IP owner allowing another party to use the right on agreed terms, while ownership stays with the licensor. Licences can be exclusive or non-exclusive and limited by territory, field, or time. Learn more.
Likelihood of confusion: The central test in much trade mark law: whether the average consumer might believe goods or services under two marks come from the same or linked sources. It weighs the similarity of the marks and of the goods or services together.

M

Madrid System: The WIPO-administered system, based on the Madrid Agreement and Madrid Protocol, for seeking trade mark protection in multiple territories through one international application filed via a home office. Each designated office still decides protection under its own law. Learn more.
Moral rights: Rights of an author that protect personal, non-economic interests in a work, typically the right to be identified as author and to object to derogatory treatment. Their scope and whether they can be waived differ between jurisdictions. Learn more.

N

National phase: The later stage of a PCT patent application, where the applicant enters chosen countries or regional offices individually. Each office then examines and decides whether to grant a patent under its own law, within set deadlines. Learn more.
Nice Classification: An international system of 45 classes (goods 1 to 34, services 35 to 45) used to categorise goods and services in trade mark applications. The classes you select shape the scope of protection, and how many you cover is a common cost driver. Learn more.
Non-use revocation: Many systems allow a registered trade mark to be removed if it has not been genuinely used for a set continuous period, often around five years. Keeping evidence of real use protects a registration against this kind of challenge.
Novelty: A core patent requirement: the invention must be new, meaning not already disclosed to the public anywhere before the relevant date. Public disclosure before filing can destroy novelty, which is why filing before disclosing is usually advised. Learn more.

O

Office action: An official communication from an IP office during examination, raising objections or requests that the applicant must answer within a deadline. It may concern formalities, classification, or substantive grounds such as distinctiveness or novelty.
Opposition: A procedure that lets third parties formally object to a pending or recently registered right, commonly a trade mark, usually within a set window after publication. Grounds and timing vary, so monitoring official journals matters.

P

Parallel imports: Genuine goods placed on the market in one country and then imported into another outside the owner's authorised channels. Whether this can be stopped depends on the territory's exhaustion rules, which differ between national, regional, and international approaches. Learn more.
Paris Convention: A foundational treaty on industrial property covering patents, trade marks, and designs. Its best-known feature is the right of priority, which lets a first filing in one member country anchor the date of later filings in others within set periods. Learn more.
Passing off: A common-law action in some jurisdictions that protects the goodwill in an unregistered brand against misrepresentation that damages it. It typically requires goodwill, a misleading representation, and resulting damage, and is distinct from registered trade mark infringement.
Patent: A right granted for a new, inventive, and industrially applicable invention, giving the owner the ability to stop others making or using it for a limited period, commonly up to twenty years, in the country that granted it. Learn more.
Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT): A WIPO-administered treaty providing one international patent application that preserves a filing date across many member states and includes an international search. It does not grant a worldwide patent; applicants later enter the national phase in chosen countries. Learn more.
Prior art: Everything already made available to the public before the relevant date that is relevant to whether an invention is new and inventive. Examiners and opponents cite prior art to challenge novelty or inventive step. Learn more.
Priority date: The date of an earlier first application that a later application can claim under the Paris Convention. Filing in other member countries within the priority period (twelve months for patents, six for trade marks and designs) preserves the earlier date for certain purposes. Learn more.
Public domain: Works no longer protected by copyright, usually because the term has expired, which anyone may use freely. When a work enters the public domain depends on each country's rules, so a work can be free in one country and protected in another. Learn more.

R

Regional right: An IP right covering several countries through one regional system, such as an EU trade mark or registered Community design across EU member states. Regional rights sit between national rights and the global filing treaties. Learn more.
Registered design: A right protecting the appearance of a product, such as its shape, pattern, or ornamentation, obtained by registration. Requirements typically include novelty and individual character, and protection is territorial and granted for a limited, renewable period. Learn more.
Renewal: The payment and formalities needed to keep a registered right in force beyond its initial period. Trade marks and registered designs are renewable, often indefinitely for trade marks; patents require periodic fees up to a maximum term and cannot be extended indefinitely.
Revocation: The cancellation of a granted right, for example a trade mark for non-use or a patent found invalid. It can follow a challenge by a third party or an official review, and removes or narrows the right.

S

Specification: In trade marks, the list of goods and services a registration covers, which defines the scope of protection. In patents, the document describing the invention and setting out the claims. The meaning depends on the right in question.
Substantive examination: The stage where an office assesses an application against the legal merits, such as distinctiveness for a trade mark or novelty and inventive step for a patent, rather than only checking formalities. Not every office examines every right on the merits.

T

Territoriality: The principle that IP rights have effect only in the country or region that granted them. There is no single worldwide right, which is why protection generally has to be sought separately in each market that matters. Learn more.
Trade mark: A sign that distinguishes the goods or services of one business from those of others, such as a name, logo, or slogan. Registration gives stronger, clearer rights, though some countries also protect unregistered marks through use. Learn more.
Trade mark squatting: Registering someone else's brand as a trade mark in a country where they have not yet protected it, then seeking to block or profit from their entry. It is a known risk in first-to-file markets and is best countered by filing early. Learn more.
Trade secret: Confidential business information with commercial value, such as a formula or process, protected by keeping it secret rather than by registration. Protection lasts as long as secrecy is maintained and depends on reasonable steps to keep the information confidential.

U

UDRP: The Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy, an administrative process for resolving disputes over abusive domain name registrations that target trade marks. It offers a faster route than litigation for many cybersquatting cases involving generic top-level domains. Learn more.
Unitary Patent: A European patent, granted by the European Patent Office, to which unitary effect is added, giving uniform protection across the EU member states that take part in the scheme (not all EU states participate), enforced before the Unified Patent Court. It runs alongside, rather than replacing, classic national and European patents.
Unregistered design right: Protection for a design that arises automatically without registration in some jurisdictions, typically shorter and narrower than a registered design and often limited to protection against copying rather than independent creation. Learn more.
Utility model: A patent-like right available in some countries for inventions, often with a lower inventive-step threshold, faster grant, and shorter term than a standard patent. It is not available everywhere, notably not in every major market.

W

Well-known mark: A mark with a strong reputation that can receive protection beyond ordinary registered rights, including against use on dissimilar goods, under principles reflected in the Paris Convention. What qualifies as well known is judged locally. Learn more.
WIPO: The World Intellectual Property Organization, the United Nations agency that administers many international IP treaties and filing systems, including the Madrid, PCT, and Hague routes, and maintains the Nice Classification. Learn more.
Word and figurative marks: A word mark protects text regardless of styling, while a figurative mark protects a logo or stylised design. Many businesses register both, as each gives a different and complementary scope of protection.

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