refer to the prongs of the test that the Federal Circuit courts of the US use when examining likelihood of confusion in a trademark dispute.

refers to the lessening of the capacity of a famous mark to identify and distinguish goods or services, regardless of the presence or absence of(1) competition between the owner of the famous mark and other parties, or (2) likelihood of confusion, mistake, or deception.

refers to a work based upon one or more preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted. Derivative works consist of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship.

refers to a patent Claim that refers back to and thus further limits a preceding dependent or independent claim. Therefore, a dependent claim includes every limitation of the claim to which it refers back and is said to depend on such claim.

Drawings (or photographs) disclose the industrial design and are a basic requirement of a design application.

Includes plays, screenplays, scripts, films, videos and choreographic works as well as translations of such works.

The unique shape of a product or package that can be registered as a trade-mark.

A statement that the applicant does not claim exclusive rights for a portion of the trade-mark.

The term used in the United States to describe a form of protection similar to that of industrial design protection in Canada.

A description is a basic requirement of an application for an industrial design. It identifies the features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornament that distinguish the design, and indicates whether the design resides in the entire article or a portion.

A mark that deceptively misdescribes a feature of a ware or service in such a way as to potentially mislead the consumer is not registrable as a trade-mark.

Design registration protects the way manufactured products look. Design refers to the features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornamentation.

A domain name is the unique name that corresponds with an Internet Protocol address. It is both easy and intuitive to remember.

For example, Law Wire™’s domain name is www.lawwireonline.com.

Domain Name

The unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The part on the left is the most specific, and the part on the right is the most general. A given machine may have more than one Domain Name but a given Domain Name points to only one machine. For example, the domain names:

lawwire.org

lawwire.biz

can all refer to the same machine, but each domain name can refer to no more than one machine.

Usually, all of the machines on a given Network will have the same thing as the right-hand portion of their Domain Names (matisse.net in the examples above). It is also possible for a Domain Name to exist but not be connected to an actual machine. This is often done so that a group or business can have an Internet e-mail address without having to establish a real Internet site. In these cases, some real Internet machine must handle the mail on behalf of the listed Domain Name.

See Also: IP Number

(Digital Subscriber Line) -- A method for moving data over regular phone lines. A DSL circuit is much faster than a regular phone connection, and the wires coming into the subscriber’s premises are the same (copper) wires used for regular phone service. A DSL circuit must be configured to connect two specific locations, similar to a leased line.

A commonly discussed configuration of DSL allows downloads at speeds of up to 1.544 megabits (not megabytes) per second, and uploads at speeds of 128 kilobits per second. This arrangement is called ADSL: “Asymmetric” Digital Subscriber Line.

Another common configuration is symmetrical: 384 Kilobits per second in both directions.

In theory ADSL allows download speeds of up to 9 megabits per second and upload speeds of up to 640 kilobits per second.

DSL is now a popular alternative to Leased Lines and ISDN, being faster than ISDN and less costly than traditional Leased Lines.

See Also: bit , bps , ISDN , Leased Line

A type of electronic signature created through public key cryptography [i.e., scrambling data to provide security and authentication]. A digital signature is a personalised thumbprint. It is the encryption of an electronic document by a key. An early example of encryption was the use by a Roman emperor. Every letter in a word was shifted 3 alphabets to the right.  As a paper is authenticated by an ink signature, a clean check is identified by having the same handwriting and no scratch marks, in a digital signature, every bit of the document has been signed.  Applications include such as electronic banking, email, and general security/authentication of documents.  It is the basic security concept for home commerce, and business to business commerce. The Internet is insecure; VANs (Value Added Networks in use for business to business commerce) are secure.

The distinction between an electronic and digital signature is an important one, the terms frequently are used interchangeably. For purposes of consistent analysis here, "electronic signature" means any identifiers such as letters, characters, or symbols, manifested by electronic or similar means, executed or adopted by a party to a transaction with an intent to authenticate a writing. Writing, therefore, is deemed to be electronically signed if an electronic signature is logically associated with such writing.

In contrast to an electronic signature, a "digital signature" is an electronic identifier that utilizes an information security measure, most commonly cryptography, to ensure the integrity, authenticity, and non-repudiation of the information to which it corresponds.

Digital Signature and Encryption is not a secret technology monopolised by any one country. Any hobbyist can program a PC to do powerful encryption. Many algorithms are well documented, some with source code available in textbooks.

The digital version of literati, it is a reference to a vague cloud of people seen to be knowledgeable, hip, or otherwise in-the-know in regards to the digital revolution.

Data in which a person or a legal entity has a continuing interest or right.

Data that has not been tampered with during a given period of time.