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29 April 2008

Glossary of Intellectual Property Terms

List of commonly used Intellectual Property terms

(The following glossary is taken from the U.S. Department of State publication, Focus on Intellectual Property Rights.)

A

APPELLATION OF ORIGIN [trademark-unfair competition]. 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. Some distinguish an appellation of origin from an "Indication of Source," which refers solely to the geographic origin of production. Roquefort cheese is an example of an appellation of origin because it designates both geographic origin and product characteristics. "Paris" perfume is an indication of source, which refers only to geographic origin. The term "Geographic Denomination" encompasses both categories.

ASSIGNMENT [patent-trademark-copyright]. A transfer of rights in intellectual property. An assignment of a patent, for example, is a transfer of sufficient rights so that the recipient has title to the patent. The assignment can be a transfer of all rights of exclusivity in the patent, of an undivided portion (for example, a 50 percent interest), or of all rights within a specified location (for example, a certain area of the United States). Transfer of anything less is considered to be a "license."

AUDIOVISUAL WORK [copyright]. A copyrightable work consisting of images that are related, presented in a series, and intended to be shown by the use of a machine, as well as any sound accompanying the work. A common example of an audiovisual work is a slide show, such as that used in a sales presentation, a lecture, or an introduction to a museum.

AUTHOR [copyright]. Either the real person who creates a copyrightable work or the employer, corporate or individual, of a person who creates a copyrightable work within the scope of employment, or in some circumstances, the commissioning party of certain specified types of works. "Author" in copyright law includes not only writers of novels, plays, and treatises, but also those who create computer programs, arrange data in reference books, choreograph dances, take photographs, sculpt stone, paint murals, write songs, record sounds, and translate books from one language to another. (See WORK MADE FOR HIRE, JOINT AUTHORS.)

B

BERNE CONVENTION [copyright-international]. The major multilateral copyright treaty, signed in Berne, Switzerland, in 1886. The Berne Convention, whose members form the Berne Union, is adhered to by nearly 150 nations, including the United States. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) serves as the administering agency for the activities of the Berne Union.

BEST MODE [patent]. A condition for the grant of a valid patent. An inventor must describe the best method he or she knows for carrying out the invention.

C

COMMUNITY TRADE MARK (CTM) [trademark-international]. A trademark registration granted by the European Community Trademark Office and enforceable throughout EC member nations. (See EUROPEAN COMMUNITY TRADEMARK.)

COMPILATION [copyright]. A copyrightable work consisting of a collection and assembly of preexisting material. The assembly must exhibit at least minimal originality in the selection, organization, and arrangement of the material without making any internal changes in it.

CONTRIBUTORY INFRINGEMENT [patent-trademark-copyright]. Indirect infringement of intellectual property rights in which one person contributes to the direct act of infringement of another. Contributory infringement of a trademark, for example, occurs when a manufacturer of goods aids or encourages its distributors to pass off its goods as those of another manufacturer.

COPIES [copyright]. As a noun, "copies" means the material objects that store or fix copyrightable information other than sounds; as a verb, the act of copying.

COPYING [copyright-patent-trademark]. In copyright law, "copying" denotes two separate but interrelated concepts. To constitute an infringement of copyright, a work must be a "copy" in the sense that it is substantially similar to a copyrighted work, it must have been "copied" from the copyrighted work as opposed to being the result of coincidental, independent production or from being taken from the same source as the copyrighted work. Legal standards for infringement of copyright differ from those for patents and trademarks, neither of which require proof of copying.

COPYRIGHT [copyright]. An exclusive right granted or 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. Copyright does not protect an abstract idea; it protects only the concrete form of expression in a work. To be valid, a copyrighted work must have originality and possess a modicum of creativity.

COUNTERFEITING [trademark]. The act of producing or selling a product containing a sham mark that is an intentional and calculated reproduction of the genuine mark. A "counterfeit mark" is identical to or substantially indistinguishable from the genuine mark. Often, counterfeit goods are made to imitate a popular product in all details of construction and appearance so as to deceive customers into thinking they are purchasing the genuine merchandise.

CYBERSQUATTING [trademark]. "Cybersquatting" and "cyberpiracy" are synonymous terms that refer to the same type of unfair competition for web sites. The typical "cybersquatter" is one who knowingly reserves with a registrar a domain name consisting of the trademark or name of a company for the purpose of selling the right to that domain name back to the legitimate owner.

D

DEPENDENT claim [patent]. 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. A dependent claim must be written so as to be more restricted than the technology defined in the previous claim.

DERIVATIVE WORK [copyright]. A work based on a preexisting work that is changed, condensed, recast, or embellished in some way.

DESCRIPTIVE MARK [trademark]. A word, picture, or other symbol that describes something about the goods or services in connection with which it is used, such as purpose, their size or color, the class of users, or the end effect on users. A descriptive term is not considered to be inherently distinctive; to establish validity for registration or protection in court, it needs proof of acquired distinctiveness, known as "secondary meaning." (See SECONDARY MEANING, SUGGESTIVE MARK).

DESIGN PATENT [patent]. A government grant of exclusive rights in a novel, nonobvious, and ornamental industrial design. A design patent confers the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling designs that closely resemble the patented design. A design patent covers ornamental aspects of a design; its functional aspects are covered by a utility patent. A design patent and a utility patent can cover different aspects of the same article, such as an automobile or a table lamp.

DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT [copyright]. A major piece of U.S. legislation adopted in 1998 that extensively amended the copyright laws, in part to conform U.S. law to various treaty obligations, and in part to modernize the law to take into account various new digital technologies.

DILUTION [trademark]. A type of violation of a strong trademark in which the defendant's use, while not causing likelihood of confusion, blurs the distinctiveness or tarnishes the image of the plaintiff's mark. To possess the selling power and recognition protected by the antidilution statutes, the mark must be relatively strong and famous.

DISTRIBUTION RIGHT [copyright]. One of the six exclusive rights held by a copyright owner, under which the copyright owner has the exclusive right to distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale, lease, or rental. Unlike the other rights of copyright, the distribution right is infringed merely by a transfer of copies of the work, whether those copies were unlawfully or lawfully made, except under the "First Sale Doctrine." (See FIRST SALE DOCTRINE.)

DOMAIN NAME [trademark]. The names and words that companies designate for their registered Internet web site addresses, also referred to as a "URL." For example: www.coca-cola.com is a domain name identifying the site of the Coca-Cola Company. Technologically, each domain name is unique and cannot be shared. Domain names are registered on a first-come, first-served basis.

DURATION [patent-trademark-copyright-trade secret-right of publicity]. The term or length of time that an intellectual property right lasts. As a result of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, U.S. law was changed, effective June 8, 1995, to adopt a patent term of 20 years from the date on which the patent application was filed. A trademark continues in duration as long as there is no abandonment of rights by nonuse or by acts that cause the term to lose its significance as an indicator of origin and to become a generic name. The basic duration of a copyright is the life of the author plus 70 years. Protection of information as a trade secret lasts as long as the information remains secret.

E

ECONOMIC ESPIONAGE ACT (EEA) [trade secret]. A U.S. statute, adopted in 1996, which provides criminal penalties for the theft of trade secrets. The EEA makes it illegal to steal or fraudulently obtain trade secrets for the benefit of a foreign government, instrumentality, or agent and steal trade secrets that benefit "anyone other than the owner."

EQUIVALENTS, DOCTRINE OF [patent]. A rule of claim interpretation under which a product or process, although not a literal infringement, is still an infringement if it performs substantially the same way as the patented invention.

F

FAIR USE [copyright-trademark]. A defense to a charge of copyright or trademark infringement. For copyrights, U.S. courts consider four factors in determining if a fair use defense exists: the purpose and character of the disputed use; the nature of the copyrighted work; the importance of the portion used in relation to the work as a whole; and the effect of the use on the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. For trademarks, the secondary user must show that he or she is not using a descriptive, geographically descriptive, or personal name mark in a trademark sense but only to describe his or her goods or services or their geographic origin, or to name the person running the business.

FIELD OF USE RESTRICTION [general intellectual property-antitrust]. A provision in an intellectual property license restricting the licensee to use of the licensed property only in a defined product or service market.

FIRST SALE DOCTRINE [copyright]. An exception to the exclusive right of a copyright owner to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work. Under this principle, the copyright owner has the right to sell a copy of a book but not the right to control subsequent sales of that copy. (See DISTRIBUTION RIGHT.)

FIRST TO FILE [patent-trademark]. For patents, a rule under which patent priority, and thus entitlement to a patent, is determined by which inventor was the first to file a patent application, rather than who was first to actually invent. This is the rule followed by almost every nation in the world except the United States. For trademarks, priority among conflicting applications to register trademarks is handled by publishing the application with the earliest filing date for possible opposition by the applicant with the later filing date. In the United States, ownership of a trademark is determined by who was first to use it, not by who was first to file an application for registration. Under the new intent-to-use system, an application for registration can be filed prior to actual use of mark. (See INTENT-TO-USE APPLICATION.)

FIRST TO INVENT [patent]. A rule under which patent priority is determined by which inventor was the first to actually invent, rather than who was the first to file a patent application. First to invent is the rule followed in the United States.

FUNCTIONALITY [patent-trademark-copyright]. 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.

G

GENERIC NAME [trademark]. A word used by most people to name a class or category of product or service, such as "cellular phone." No one person may have trademark rights to a generic name.

GOOD WILL [trademark]. The value of a business or of a line of goods or services that reflects commercial reputation. A business with a well-established good will could see all of its tangible assets destroyed, yet still own its reputation, its good will. Trademark infringement is a form of theft of good will, since a trademark or service mark is a symbol of a business' good will.

I

IDEA-EXPRESSION DICHOTOMY [copyright]. The fundamental rule of law that copyright does not protect an idea; copyright protects only specific expressions of an idea.

INFRINGEMENT [general intellectual property]. An invasion of one of the exclusive rights of intellectual property. Infringement of a utility patent involves the making, using, selling, offering to sell, or importing of a patented product or process without permission. Infringement of a design patent involves fabrication of a design that, to the ordinary person, is substantially the same as an existing design, where the resemblance is intended to induce an individual to purchase one thing supposing it to be another. 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. Infringement of a copyright involves reproducing, adapting, distributing, performing in public, or displaying in public the copyrighted work of someone else.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY [patent-trademark-unfair competition-copyright-trade secret-moral rights]. Certain creations of the human mind that have commercial value and are given the legal aspects of a property right. "Intellectual property" is an all-encompassing term now widely used to designate as a group all of the following fields of law: patent, trademark, unfair competition, copyright, trade secret, moral rights, and the right of publicity.

INTENT TO USE APPLICATION [trademark]. Since 1989 in the United States, an optional method of applying for federal registration of a mark on the Principal Register based upon a declared good faith intention to use a mark on defined goods or services.

INVENTION [patent]. The human creation of a new technical idea and the physical means to accomplish or embody the idea.

J

JOINT AUTHORS [copyright]. The collaborating creators of a single copyrightable work who merge their separate contributions to the work. Joint authorship implies joint ownership of copyright in the work created. Co-owners of a copyright are treated as "tenants in common," with each co-owner having an independent right to license the use of a work, subject to a duty of accounting to the co-owners for any profits.

JOINT INVENTORS [patent]. Two or more inventors of a single invention who collaborate in the inventive process.

K

KNOCK-OFF [patent-trademark-copyright]. An identical copy of a work or product protected by patent, trademark, trade dress, copyright. When used as a verb, the act of producing such a copy.

KNOW-HOW [trade secret]. Information that enables a person to accomplish a particular task or to operate a particular device or process.

L

LICENSE [patent-trademark-copyright]. A permission to use an intellectual property right, under defined conditions -- as to time, context, market line, or territory. In intellectual property law, important distinctions exist between "exclusive licenses" and "nonexclusive licenses." An exclusive license does not necessarily mean that this is the one and only license granted by the licensor. In giving an exclusive license, the licensor promises that he or she will not grant other licenses of the same rights within the same scope or field covered by the exclusive license. However, the owner of rights may grant any number of nonexclusive licenses of the same rights. In a nonexclusive license, title remains with the licensor. A patent license is a transfer of rights that does not amount to an assignment of the patent. A trademark of 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. Under copyright law, an exclusive licensee is the owner of a particular right of copyright, and he or she may sue for infringement of the licensed right. There is never more than a single copyright in a work regardless of the owner's exclusive license of various rights to different persons.

LOGO [trademark]. A graphic representation or symbol of a company name or trademark, usually designed for ready recognition. The term has no legal significance in the law of trademark.

M

MISAPPROPRIATION [unfair competition]. 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.

MORAL RIGHTS [copyright-author's rights]. Some European and other nations' legal systems expressly recognize certain rights of authors beyond those strictly recognized in copyright law. Moral rights generally fall into three categories: the right of an author to receive credit as the author of a work, to prevent others from falsely being named author, and to prevent use of the author's name in connection with works the author did not create; the right of an author to prevent mutilation of a work; and the right to withdraw a work from distribution if it no longer represents the views of the author.

MUSICAL WORK [copyright]. A category of copyrightable work expressed in notation or sounds. A musical work can be embodied and fixed in physical objects that are classified as either "copies" (sheet music) or "phonorecords" (e.g., compact discs or tapes). A composer's song is covered by a musical work copyright, but a recording of the song is covered by a sound recording copyright.

N

NOTICE [patent-copyright-trademark]. A formal sign or notification attached to physical objects that embody or reproduce an intellectual property right -- for example, the use of the word "patent" or its abbreviation, "pat.," together with the patent number, on a patented article made by a patent holder or his/her licensees. The formal statutory notice of U.S. trademark registration is the letter R in a circle symbol ®, "Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off.," or "Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office." 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. Notice of copyright consists of the letter C in a circle symbol ©, or the word "Copr." or "Copyright," the copyright owner's name, and the year of first publication.

NOVELTY [patent]. One of the three conditions that an invention must meet in order to be patentable. Novelty is present if every element of the claimed invention is not disclosed in a single piece of prior art.

O

OBVIOUSNESS [patent]. A condition of non-patentability in which an invention cannot receive a valid patent because a person with ordinary skill in that technology can readily deduce it from publicly available information (prior art).

ON SALE [patent]. An inventor cannot obtain a valid patent if he or she waits for more than the one-year grace period to file a patent application after a product embodying the invention has been placed "on sale."

ORDINARY SKILL IN THE ART [patent]. That level of technical knowledge, experience, and expertise possessed by the run-of-the-mill or ordinary engineer, scientist, or designer in the technology that is relevant to the invention.

P

PASSING OFF [trademark]. (1) The substitution of one brand of goods when another brand is ordered. (2) Trademark infringement where the infringer intentionally meant to mislead or deceive purchasers. (3) Trademark infringement where there is no proof of intent to deceive but likelihood of confusion is proven. (4) In British-law countries, acts illegal under the common law, apart from registered "trademark" law, and consisting of the misrepresentation of one's goods or services as those of a competitor, usually by using a similar mark.

PATENT [patent]. In the United States, a grant by the federal government to an inventor of the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling the invention. There are three very different kinds of patents in the United States: a utility patent on the functional aspects of products and processes; a design patent on the ornamental design of useful objects; and a plant patent on a new variety of living plant. Patents do not protect "ideas," only structures and methods that apply technological concepts. In return for receiving the right to exclude others from a precisely defined scope of technology, industrial design, or plant variety, which is the gist of a patent, the inventor must fully disclose the details of the invention to the public. This will enable others to understand the invention and be able to use it as a steppingstone to further develop the technology. Once the patent expires, the public is entitled to make and use the invention and is entitled to a full and complete disclosure of how to do so.

PERFORMANCE [copyright]. To recite, render, play, dance, or act a copyrighted work, including the broadcast by radio or television of a performance and the reception of such a broadcast. The exclusive right to "perform the copyrighted work publicly" is granted to all types of copyrighted works, except for pictorial and sculptural works and sound recordings.

PHONORECORDS [copyright]. The material objects that store or fix copyrightable sounds, other than soundtrack accompanying a motion picture. Phonorecords can be audiotapes, compact discs, computer chips that store sounds, and the like.

PIRACY [copyright-trademark]. The act of exact, unauthorized, and illegal reproduction on a commercial scale of a copyrighted work or of a trademarked product.

PRIOR ART [patent]. The existing body of technological information against which an invention is judged to determine if it can be patented as being a novel and nonobvious invention.

PROCESS CLAIM [patent]. A claim of a patent that covers the method by which an invention is performed by defining a series of steps to be followed. This is in contrast to a product claim or apparatus claim, which cover the structure of a product.

PRODUCT-BY-PROCESS CLAIM [patent]. A patent claim in which a product is claimed by defining the process by which it is made. The product-by-process form of claim is most often used to define new chemical compounds, since many new chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and drugs can only practicably be defined by the process of making them.

PRODUCT CLAIM [patent]. A claim of a patent that covers a structure, apparatus, or composition. This is in contrast to a "process claim," which covers a method or process.

PUBLICATION [copyright]. The distribution of copies or phonorecords of a work to the public.

PUBLIC DOMAIN [general intellectual property]. The status of an invention, creative work, and commercial symbol that is not protected by any form of intellectual property law. Items in the public domain are available for free copying and use by anyone. The copying of items that are in the public domain is not only tolerated but encouraged as a vital part of the competitive process. (See COPYING, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.)

R

REDUCTION TO PRACTICE [patent]. The physical part of the inventive process that completes and ends the process of invention. After a reduction to practice, the invention is complete for patent law purposes.

RENEWAL [trademark-copyright]. The extension of a registration of a trademark or the extension of a copyright.

REVERSE ENGINEERING [trade secret-copyright]. A method of obtaining technical information by starting with a publicly available product and determining what it is made of, what makes it work, or how it was produced. The engineering effort goes in the reverse direction of usual engineering efforts, which start with technical data and use it to produce a product. If the product or other material that is the subject of the reverse engineering was properly obtained, the process of reverse engineering is not infringement of any trade secrets in the data embodied in a product and it is legitimate and legal competitive behavior.

RIGHT OF PUBLICITY [general intellectual property]. The inherent right of every human being to control the commercial use of his or her identity.

S

SECONDARY MEANING [trademark]. A meaning for a trademark or service mark that customers associate with a particular brand of products or services. For trade symbols that are not inherently distinctive, distinctiveness must be acquired in order to be protected by a trademark or service mark. This acquired distinctiveness is knows as "secondary meaning" because it is acquired second in time to the primary meaning of a word. For example, a word such as "best" for milk is regarded as descriptive and not inherently distinctive. The primary meaning is that milk thus described is purported to be the best. To achieve exclusive trademark rights for a product called "Best Milk," a seller using this word must use it so that it achieves a secondary meaning denoting that all milk marked "best" comes from a single commercial source.

SERVICE MARK [trademark]. A word, slogan, design, picture, or any other symbol used to identify and distinguish services (retail sales services, airlines services, insurance, investment services, and the like) as opposed to a product.

SKILL IN THE ART [patent]. An ordinary level of proficiency in the particular technology in which an invention is made.

SOUND RECORDING [copyright]. A category of copyrightable work consisting of the sounds that are recorded in a phonorecord.

SPECIAL 301 [international trade]. U.S. statutory provisions requiring annual review of trade agreement rights and foreign trade practices of U.S. trading partners that deny benefits to the United States or unjustifiably restrict or burden U.S. commerce. The Trade Act of 1974, as amended by the Special 301 provisions of the 1988 Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act, authorizes the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to identify and investigate potential violating countries, recommend the suspension of trade agreement concessions and the imposition of duties and import restrictions, and enter into agreements to eliminate the burdens or restrictions on U.S. trade.

SUBSTANTIAL SIMILARITY [copyright]. The degree of resemblance between a copyrighted work and a second work that is sufficient to constitute copyright infringement by the second work. Exact word-for-word or line-for-line identity does not define the limits of copyright infringement. U.S. courts have chosen the flexible phrase "substantial similarity" to define that level of similarity that will, together with proof of validity and copying, constitute copyright infringement.

SUGGESTIVE MARK [trademark]. A word, picture, or other symbol that suggests, but does not directly describe, something about the goods or services in connection with which it is used as a mark. A suggestive term is considered to be inherently distinctive and needs no proof of secondary meaning for registration or protection in court. For example, polar bear for parkas and coats merely suggests the kind of protection that a polar bear has from the cold. (See DESCRIPTIVE MARK.)

T

TRADE DRESS [trademark]. The totality of elements in which a product or service is packaged or presented, such as the shape and appearance of a product or container, or the cover of a book or magazine. These elements combine to create a visual image presented to customers and are capable of acquiring exclusive legal rights as a type of trademark or identifying symbol of origin.

TRADEMARK [trademark]. (1) A word, slogan, design, picture, or any 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. Trademarks identify one seller's goods and distinguish them from goods sold by others. They signify that all goods bearing the mark come from or are controlled by a single source and are of an equal level of quality. A trademark is infringed by another if the second use causes confusion of source, affiliation, connection, or sponsorship.

TRADE NAME [trademark]. 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 (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. Such confidential information will be protected against those who obtain access through improper methods or by a breach of confidence. Infringement of a trade secret is a type of unfair competition.

U

UNFAIR COMPETITION [general intellectual property]. Commercial conduct that the law views as unjust. A person injured by an act of unfair competition is entitled to relief in a civil action against the perpetrator of the act. Trademark infringement has long been considered to be unfair competition. Other legal categories recognized as being types of unfair competition are false advertising, product disparagement/trade libel, infringement of a trade secret, infringement of the right of publicity, and misappropriation.

UTILITY [patent]. The usefulness of a patented invention. To be patentable, an invention must operate and be capable of use, and it must perform some "useful" function for society.

W

WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION (WIPO) [international]. One of the 16 "specialized agencies" of the United Nations system. WIPO, located in Geneva, Switzerland, was created in 1967 and is responsible for the promotion of the protection of intellectual property throughout the world. WIPO fulfills this responsibility by promoting cooperation among nations in intellectual property matters, administering various "unions" and other treaty organizations founded on multilateral treaties, and creating model laws for adoption by developing nations.

WORK MADE FOR HIRE [copyright]. A work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment or a commissioned work that the parties agree in writing to treat as a work made for hire. The real person, partnership, or corporation for whom the work was prepared is considered to be both the "author" and the owner of copyright from the moment of creation of the work.

WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO) [international]. WTO is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. Located in Geneva, Switzerland, it was created at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations in December 1993 to oversee the operation of GATT. The WTO entered into force with respect to the United States on January 1, 1995. The WTO often plays much the same role in world financial and economic affairs as the United Nations does in political affairs. Activities of WTO include: administering trade agreements; acting as a forum for trade negotiations; settling trade disputes; reviewing national trade policies; assisting developing countries in trade policy issues through technical assistance and training programs; and cooperating with other international organizations. One hundred forty-eight nations are members of the WTO (as of June 2005), accounting for over 97 percent of world trade.

[The information that is presented here was adapted and excerpted with permission from McCarthy's Desk Encyclopedia of Intellectual Property, Third Edition, by J. Thomas McCarthy, Roger E. Schechter, and David J. Franklyn. Copyright - 2004 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., Washington, D.C. 20037. To contact BNA Books, call toll free 1-800-960-1220 or visit www.bnabooks.com.]