Law terms starting with M

136 terms

  1. "must pass" bill A vitally important measure that Congress must enact, such as annual money bills to fund operations of the government.
  2. MAC Address In computer networking a Media Access Control address (MAC address) is a unique identifier attached to most network adapters (NICs).
  3. Machine A device, a product, a physical thing. Under U.S. law, one of the statutory classes of inventions.MPEP 2105, MPEP 2106, MPEP 2114.
  4. Madrid Protocol The "Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks" (Madrid Protocol) is an international treaty that…
  5. Magenta Used in four color printing. Reflects blue & red and absorbs green.
  6. Magistrate See U.S. Magistrate Judge.
  7. magistrate judge A judicial officer of a district court who conducts initial proceedings in criminal cases, decides criminal misdemeanor cases, conducts many pretrial…
  8. magistrate judges Judicial officers who assist U.S. district court judges in getting cases ready for trial.
  9. Magnetic/Optical Storage Media Includes, but is not limited to, hard drives, backup tapes, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, Jaz and Zip drives.
  10. Magneto-Optical Drive A drive that combines laser and magnetic technology to create high-capacity erasable storage.
  11. Mailbox An area on a storage device where email is placed. In email systems, each user has a private mailbox.
  12. Mailing and Posting When neither personal nor substitute service can be accomplished, this third method of service is available. It is very technical.
  13. maintenance The patent fees due at 4, 8 and 12 years needed to keep a U. S. utility or plant patent in force for its full life.
  14. Maintenance Fee See Fee, Maintenance.
  15. maintenance fees fees for maintaining in force a patent based on an application filed on or after December 12, 1980 --see MPEP 2500 for more
  16. majority leader see Floor Leaders
  17. majority whip See Whips.
  18. Make-Available Production A process whereby what is usually a large universe of all potentially responsive documents are made available to the requestor; from this universe, the…
  19. Making Officer Redeployment Effective (MORE) The COPS MORE grant program provides law enforcement agencies with funding to purchase technology and equipment and to procure support resources…
  20. Mala Bad.
  21. Mala fide With bad faith.
  22. Malfeasance The commission of an unlawful act.
  23. Malicious prosecution An action instituted with intention of injuring the defendant and without probable cause and which terminates in favor of the person prosecuted.
  24. Malicious turning out of doors Malicious turning out of doors is a sub-set of willful abandonment and is proved by the same basic facts.
  25. Malo animo With an evil intent.
  26. Malo modo In a bad manner.
  27. Malpractice Any professional misconduct.
  28. Mandamus Writ issued by a superior court to an inferior tribunal to enforce the performance of a public duty.
  29. Mandatory minimum sentence A statutorily defined minimum term of imprisonment that the court is required to impose on a defendant at sentencing.
  30. mandatory spending Spending (budget authority and outlays) controlled by laws other than annual appropriations acts.
  31. Manner of death death occurs in one of four manners: natural, if caused solely by disease; accidental, if it occurs without apparent intent; suicide, if caused by the…
  32. Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) A document that contains a description of the practices and procedures of the USPTO.
  33. Manufacture One of the classes of patentable subject matter under U.S. law. MPEP 2105.
  34. MAPI (Mail Application Program Interface) A Windows software standard that has become a popular email interface used by MS Exchange, GroupWise, and other email packages.
  35. MAPI Mail Near-Line Documents stored on optical discs or compact discs that are housed in the jukebox or CD changer and can be retrieved without human intervention.
  36. Marginalia Handwritten notes in the margin of the page in documents.
  37. Marital property Marital property is all property that was acquired during the course of a marriage, even if it is not titled in both names, with some exceptions.
  38. Mark -- see trademark
  39. Markup When you buy securities from a broker-dealer or market maker, you pay a markup.
  40. Markush Claim See Claim, Markush.
  41. Markush doctrine When materials recited in a claim are so related as to constitute claiming the members of the claimed group in the alternative, such as "selected from the…
  42. Markush Group In a claim, a finite group from which an element is selected. See Claim, Markush.
  43. MARS Machine Assisted Reference Section
  44. Marshal In federal court, the individual that serves process on behalf of an indigent party to an action.
  45. Martindale-HubbellLaw Directory A publication consisting of several volumes which contains names, addresses, specialties and rating of United States lawyers; also includes digests of…
  46. mask work images that are used to create the layers of a semiconductor chip product -- see MPEP Appendix R §150.1 (d) for more
  47. Mass spectrometers an instrument used to both measure and analyze molecules under study. The process involves introducing enough energy into a target molecule to cause its…
  48. Mass spectrometry this technique can be used to both measure and analyze molecules under study. It involves introducing enough energy into a target molecule to cause its…
  49. Master Boot Record See Boot Sector.
  50. Master File Table (MFT) A unique system file that essentially acts as a database, containing information on all the files and subdirectories located within the NTFS logical…
  51. Mastering Making many copies of a disc from a single master disc.
  52. Matching Funds Under the COPS MORE program, the COPS Office provides funding for up to 75 percent of the cost of equipment, technology, or salaries and fringe benefits…
  53. materials transfer agreement An agreement that provides the understanding that the materials are made available only for scientific work.
  54. matrix List of creditors names and addresses, filed with the petition.
  55. MCA (Micro Channel Architecture) An IBM bus standard.
  56. MD5 message-digest algorithm meant for digital signature applications where a large message has to be compressed in a secure manner before being signed with…
  57. MDE (Magnetic Disc Emulation) Software that makes a jukebox look and operate like a hard-drive such that it will respond to all the I/O commands ordinarily sent to a hard drive.
  58. Means for Claim A patent claim that recites an element as a means for accomplishing a particular function. MPEP 2181.
  59. Means Plus Function Language See Means for Claim.
  60. means test Section 707(b)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code applies a "means test" to determine whether an individual debtor's chapter 7 filing is presumed to be an abuse of…
  61. Means-Plus-Function Claim See Means for Claim.
  62. Measure A question or proposal submitted in an election for an expression of the voters’ will.
  63. Media Any organization in the business of informing the public with news or commentary.
  64. Media Conversion Moving data from one type of media to another such as tape to CD.
  65. Mediation Mediation is an informal, voluntary method of resolving disputes, in which the parties in conflict meet with a trained, independent third party to come up…
  66. Mediator A person who conducts mediation. A mediator is usually a lawyer or retired judge but can be a non-attorney specialist in the subject matter who tries to…
  67. Medical Examiner government official, always a physician and often a forensic pathologist, charged with investigating sudden and unexpected deaths or deaths from injuries.
  68. Megabyte (Meg) One megabyte of data is equal to one million bytes.
  69. Memorabilia Items to be remembered.
  70. Memorandum of law A legal brief in support of the position taken by a party in an action.
  71. memory Data storage in the form of chips, or the actual chips used to hold data; storage is used to describe memory that exists on tapes or discs.
  72. Mens rea The "guilty mind" necessary to establish criminal responsibility.
  73. menu A list of options, each of which performs a desired action such as choosing a command or applying a particular format to a part of a document.
  74. mere descriptiveness statutory basis (Trademark Act Section 2(e)(1), 15 U.S.C. Section 1052(e)(1), TMEP 1209 et seq) for refusing registration of trademarks and service marks…
  75. Merge The process of merging various email files into one file for de-duplication purposes.
  76. Merger When two or more companies consolidate by exchanging common stock, and the resulting single company replaces the old companies, the consolidation is…
  77. Message Header Message headers generally contain the identities of the author and recipients, the subject of the message, and the date the message was sent.
  78. Meta data Data about data; resides in the shadows of a document and usually includes information such as, author, recipient, creation date, modified date, etc.
  79. metadata Metadata is information about a particular data set which may describe, for example, how, when, and by whom it was received, created, accessed, and/or…
  80. Metadata Comparison A method of de-duplication that compares file metadata and ignores content. See De-Duplication.
  81. metes and bounds The legal description of the exact property which is covered by a patent (the Claims).
  82. method the course of action or technique followed in conducting a specific analysis or comparison leading to an analytical result.
  83. MFT (Master File Table) Index to files on a computer. If corrupt, a drive may be unusable, yet data may be retrievable using forensic methods.
  84. MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition) The process used by banks to encode checks.
  85. microfiche Sheet microfilm (4 by 6) containing reduced images of 270 pages or more in a grid pattern.
  86. Migrated Data Data that has been transferred from one database or format to another that is generally done when migrating from one form of hardware or software…
  87. migration Moving files to another computer application or platform; may require conversion to a different format.
  88. Minor A person under the age of legal competence.
  89. minority leader See Floor Leaders.
  90. minority whip See Whips.
  91. Minute book A book maintained in state court that contains minute entries of all hearings and trial conducted by the judge.
  92. Minutes Memorandum of a transaction or proceeding.
  93. Miranda warning Requirement that police tell a suspect in their custody of his or her constitutional rights before they question him or her.
  94. Mirror Image Used in computer forensic investigations and some electronic discovery investigations, a mirror image is a bit-by-bit copy of a computer hard drive that…
  95. mirroring The duplication of data for purposes of backup or to distribute Internet or network traffic among several servers with identical data.
  96. MIS Management information systems.
  97. MIS (Management Information Systems) In general, a computer-based system that provides IT personnel with the necessary tools for categorizing, assessing, and efficiently running an…
  98. Misdemeanor A criminal offense lesser than a felony and generally punishable by fine or by imprisonment of less than 1 year.
  99. Misfeasance Improper performance of an act which a person might lawfully do.
  100. Mistrial An invalid trial, caused by fundamental error. When a mistrial is declared, the trial must start again from the selection of the jury.