Law terms starting with F

166 terms

Facto In fact; in or by the law.
failure of others A secondary test of patentability relevant to the issue of whether an invention is obvious is whether others have failed to come up with the solution…
Fair Market Value Fair market value is the price you would have to pay to buy a particular asset or service on the open market.
FAIT A fact; an act committed; a deed.
False negative test result that states that an analyte is absent, when, in fact, it is present above the established limit of detection for the analyte in question.
false positive test result that states that an analyte is present, when, in fact, it is not present or, is present in an amount less than a threshold or designated…
False Positive/Negative A result that is not correct. This may be a result of performing a process incorrectly or using a process that is not accurate.
family (patent) -- see patent family
family farmer Individual and family engaged in farming operation.
family farmer or family fisherman An individual, individual and spouse, corporation, or partnership engaged in a farming or fishing operation that meets certain debt limits and other…
Family law Those areas of the law pertaining to families, i.e., marriage, divorce, child custody, juvenile, paternity, etc.
Family Range A family range describes the range of documents from the first Bates production number assigned to the first page of the top most parent document through…
Family Relationship A family relationship is formed among two or more documents that have a connection or relatedness because of some factor.
fanciful marks comprise terms that have been invented for the sole purpose of functioning as a trademark or service mark.
FAQ Frequently Asked Questions
FAS Foreign Agricultural Service
FASAB Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board
FAST First Action System for Trademarks
Fastener Quality Act Fastener Quality Act (15 U.S.C. 5401 et seq., as amended by Public Law 104-113, Public Law 105-234, and Public Law 106-34); implementing regulations: 15 C.
FAT (File Allocation Table) An internal data table on hard drives that keeps track of where the files are stored.
Fault "Fault" means adultery, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, physical abuse, domestic violence, abandonment or reckless spending.
FAX Short for facsimile. A process of transmitting documents by scanning them to digital, converting to analog, transmitting over phone lines and reversing…
FBI rap sheet Informal term for a record kept by the FBI listing all arrests and convictions of persons charged with crimes.
FDC Final Data Capture Once the fee, any correspondence, and/or drawings are matched with the application and all requirements have been met for issuance as a…
FEA Federal Enterprise Architecture -- see Federal Enterprise Architecture for more
Fed. R. Civ P Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) A federal agency which regulates air commerce to promote aviation safety.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) A federal agency which investigates all violations of federal laws.
Federal Circuit See Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC or Fed. Cir.).
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) A federal agency which regulates interstate and foreign communications by wire and radio.
Federal crime A violation of a criminal law passed by Congress. Federal crimes are investigated by federal law enforcement agencies and prosecuted by the U.S.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) A government corporation that insures the deposits of all national and State banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System.
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service A federal agency which provides mediators to assist in labor-management disputes.
federal public defender An attorney employed by the federal courts on a full-time basis to provide legal defense to defendants who are unable to afford counsel.
Federal public defender organization The CJA provides for the establishment of such organizations to represent indigent defendants.
federal question Jurisdiction given to federal courts in cases involving the interpretation and application of the U.S. Constitution, acts of Congress, and treaties.
federal question jurisdiction Jurisdiction given to federal courts in cases involving the interpretation and application of the U.S. Constitution, acts of Congress, and treaties.
Federal Register A daily publication which contains federal administrative rules and regulations.
Federal Regulations The regulations of the departments and agencies of the U.S. Federal Government as published in the Code of Federal Regulations.
Federal Reporters ("F.," "F.2d" or "F.3d") Books which contain decisions of the Circuit Courts throughout the country.
federal rules of bankruptcy procedure Govern practice and proceedings in the bankruptcy courts.
Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure A body of rules developed by the federal judiciary that provides a comprehensive procedural code for use in federal criminal cases.
Federal Supplement ("F. Supp.") Books which contain decisions of the District Courts throughout the country.
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA tax) A tax levied on employers based upon employee wages paid.
federalism The theory under which the powers of government are divided between the states and the central government.
Fee A charge or payment for products and services, a sum paid or charged for a privilege, for example, some financial institutions charge a monthly fee to…
Fee, Filing The fee charged by a patent office for filing a patent application. MPEP 607, MPEP 509.
Fee, Issue The fee charged by a patent office for issuing (granting) a patent. MPEP 1306, MPEP 509.
Fee, Maintenance The periodic fee charge by the U.S. patent office for maintaining a patent in force. MPEP 2501, MPEP 2504, MPEP 509.
Fee, Petition The fee charged by a patent office for reveiwing a petition filed by an applicant. MPEP 1002.
Felony A serious criminal offense. Under federal law, any offense punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.
Feme covert A married woman.
Feme sole A single woman (unmarried).
Feme, femme Woman.
FFMIA Federal Financial Management Improvement Act
Fianza Efectivo, bono (obligación, pagaré) u otra garantía depositada con el tribunal para obtener la liberación de un demandado o acusado.
Fiber Optics Transmitting information by sending light pulses over cables made from thin strands of glass.
FICC Federal Identity Credentialing Committee
Fiduciario Persona autorizada para representar a otra en materia de fideicomiso (trust).
Fiduciary Undertaking to act as executor, administrator, guardian, conservator, or trustee for a family trust, authorized trust, or testamentary trust, or receiver…
Field (or Data Field) A name for an individual piece of standardized data, such as the author of a document, a recipient, the date of a document or any other piece of data…
Field of Endeavor The area of technology that an inventor invents within. Also called technical field or field of the invention. MPEP 608.01(c).
Field of the Invention See Field of Endeavor.
Field of Use The technical field or market within which an invention is licensed. The licensee mahy not sell the invention within other markets.
field of use license A license to rights in intellectual property which is limited to a defined use.
Field Separator A code that separates the fields in a record. For example, the CSV format uses a comma as the field separator.
Figure Legend An explanations of what marks mean on a drawing. Patent drawings do not have legends.
file To place a paper in the official custody of the clerk of court/court administrator to enter into the files or records of a case.
File Allocation Table Microsoft operating systems store data in fixed length blocks of bytes called clusters, with the size of these blocks depending on the type of storage…
File Compression See Compression.
File Conversion Changing data or a file from one format to another. For example, Native files may be converted from their original source format (e.g.
File Extension A tag of three or four letters, preceded by a period, which identifies a data file's format or the application used to create the file.
File Format The organization or characteristics of a file that allow it to be used with certain software programs.
File History The complete file of a patent application containing all related papers prepared by the patent office and the applicant during the prosecution of the…
File Level Binary Comparison Method of de-duplication using the digital fingerprint (hash) of a file. File Level Binary comparison ignores metadata, and can determine that SHOPPING…
File Server When several or many computers are networked together in a LAN situation, one computer may be utilized as a storage location for files for the group.
File Sharing The ability for computer systems networked together to share files that are stored on the file server.
File Signature Within the file, the file signature is the information about the true program-related origin of the file and, therefore, its type.
File Slack The unused space on a cluster that exists when the logical file space is less than the physical file space.
File Slack Space File slack potentially contains randomly selected bytes of data from computer memory because DOS/Windows normally writes in 512 byte blocks called sectors.
File System The engine that an operating system or program uses to organize and kept track of files.
File System Metadata Data that can be obtained or extracted about a file from the file system storing the file.
file transfer Moving named files from one computer or network to another
file wrapper The folder into which papers for a particular application are collected and maintained.
File Wrapper Estoppel A restriction in the interpretation of a claim that exists because of an admission in the record by the applicant.
Filename The name of a file, excluding root drive and directory path information. Different operating systems may impose different restrictions on filenames, for…
filibuster Informal term for any attempt to block or delay Senate action on a bill or other matter by debating it at length, by offering numerous procedural motions…
filing basis The legal basis for filing an application for registration of a mark. The Trademark Act sets out five filing bases, and an applicant must specify and meet…
Filing Date This is the date a filer submits a financial disclosure report to the supervisor or senior legal counsel for review, usually the date the filer eSigns the…
Filing Fee The fee required for filing various documents. In civil actions, the filing fee is $120.00.
filing receipt When an application is submitted via e-TEAS, the Office immediately issues a confirmation of filing via e-mail that includes the serial number and filing…
filing refusal also known as a final Office action, which makes "final" any outstanding refusals or requirements.
Filtering Electronic filtering of emails and files for privilege or by keyword, file, type, or name.
Final Action An Office action that contains a final rejection of one or more claims or another final action. See Final Rejection. MPEP 706.07, MPEP 706.07(a), MPEP 706.
final decree Order of the court that the case has been fully administered and is closed.
Final Judgment A final decision by the trial court.
final office action (rejection) an Office action on the second or any subsequent examination or consideration by an examiner that is intended to close the prosecution of a nonprovisional…
Final Rejection A rejection of a claim that is made final on a second or subsequent examination or consideration.
Financial Affidavit Form (CJA Form 23) A form containing questions about the assets, obligations, and debts of defendants applying for court services under the CJA.
Finding Formal conclusion by a judge or regulatory agency on issues of fact. Also, a conclusion by a jury regarding a fact.