Law terms starting with P

344 terms

PAB A Microsoft Outlook list of recipients created and maintained by an individual user for personal use.
PAC Patent Assistance Center (prior), now the Inventors Assistance Center or IAC, call (toll-free) 1-800-786-9199 or 703-308-4357
PackBits A compression scheme which originated with the Macintosh. Suitable only for black & white.
Packet A unit of data sent across a network which may contain identify and routing information.
Pacto, estipulación Un acuerdo entre adversarios respecto de ciertos aspectos de un proceso o juicio. Las partes deben acordar al pacto por escrito.
PAGE A single image of the equivalent of one piece of paper. One or several pages make up a Document.
Page File/Paging File A file used to temporarily store code and data for programs that are currently running.
PAIR Patent Application Information Retrieval -- see Patent EBC for more provides secure access for customers who want to view current patent application…
PALM Patent Application Locating and Monitoring system - an internal USPTO system that is the source of status information displayed in PAIR
panel A portion of a flat surface recessed, or raised from the surrounding area, distinctly set off by molding or some other decorative device.
Panel attorney An attorney in private practice who has been found qualified and eligible to represent indigent defendants under the Criminal Justice Act (CJA).
Paper Short-term, unsecured debt securities that a corporation issues are often referred to as paper - for short-term commercial paper.
Paper bound supplement A temporary supplement to a book or books.
Paper Discovery Paper discovery refers to the discovery of writings on paper that can be read without the aid of some devices.
PAR Performance and Accountability Report -- see Annual Reports for more
Paralegal 1. A person with legal skills who works under the supervision of a lawyer. 2. A legal assistant.
Parallel Transmission of all the bits (e.g. in a character) at the same time. If the character has eight bits, there are eight wires.
Pardon An act of grace from governing power which mitigates punishment and restores rights and privileges forfeited on account of the offense.
Parens patriae Power of guardianship over persons under disability. The doctrine under which the court protects the interests of a juvenile.
Parent Application The term "parent" is applied to an earlier application of the inventor disclosing a given invention --see MPEP 201.04 for more
Parent-child Relationships Parent-child relationships is a term used in e-discovery to describe a chain of documents that stems from a single e-mail or storage folder.
Paris Convention See Convention.
parliamentarian The Parliamentarian is the Senate's advisor on the interpretation of its rules and procedures.
parliamentary inquiry A question from the floor to the Presiding Officer by a Senator requesting a clarification of the procedural situation on the floor.
Parol evidence Oral or verbal evidence; evidence given by word of mouth in court.
Parole Supervised release of a prisoner from imprisonment on certain prescribed conditions which entitle him to relief from a prison sentence.
parties Plaintiffs and defendants (petitioners and respondents) to lawsuits, also known as appellants and appellees in appeals, and their lawyers.
Partition A partition is an individual section of computer storage media such as a hard drive.
Partition Gap One physical hard disk drive can be partitioned to contain one or more logical drives when computer users utilize programs such as FDisk or Partition…
Partition Table The partition table indicates each logical volume contained on a disc and its location.
Partition Waste Space After the boot sector of each volume or partition is written to a track, it is customary for the system to skip the rest of that track and begin the…
Party A person, business, or government agency actively involved in the prosecution or defense of a legal proceeding.
party in interest A party who has standing to be heard by the court in a matter to be decided in the bankruptcy case. The debtor, the U.S.
PASAT Patent Application Specification Authoring Tool -- no longer used as of 22 August 2004
Password A secret code utilized, usually along with a user ID, in order to log on or gain access to a PC, network or other secure system, site or application.
patent A grant to an inventor of the right to exclude others, for a limited time, from making, using, or selling his invention in the United States.
Patent Agent A person who is not an attorney who can legally represent an inventor or applicant in dealing with a patent office. MPEP 401.
Patent and Trademark Depository Library a library designated by the USPTO to receive copies of patents, CD-ROMs containing registered and pending marks, and patent and trademark materials that…
Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) The federal agency which examines and issues patents and registers trademarks.
Patent Application -- see application (patent) -- see How to Get a Patent for guides for each type of patent application
patent application publication Pre-Grant Publication of patent application at 18 months from priority date -- see Search online
Patent Attorney A person who is an attorney who can legally represent an inventor or applicant in dealing with a patent office. MPEP 401.
Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) A treaty that set up a system for searching and, optionally, examination of patent applications.
Patent Examiner See Examiner.
Patent Family A patent family is the same invention disclosed by a common inventor(s) and patented in more than one country. -- see patent family
patent infringement unauthorized making, using, offering to sell, selling or importing into the United States any patented invention -- see 35 USC § 271(a)
Patent Marking The marking of a patent-pending item "Patent Pending" or marking a patented item with one or more of the patent numbers.
Patent Misuse See Misuse.
Patent Number unique number assigned to a patent application when it issues as a patent -- see list -- see patent numbering formats for an explanation of the codes that…
Patent Owner The owner of patent property rights.
Patent Pending A phrase that often appears on manufactured items. It means that someone has applied for a patent on an invention that is contained in the manufactured…
Patent Search A study of the patent literature to determine the state of the art in a particular field; a study of the patent literature in a particular field to…
Patent Term The period during which a patent is valid.
Patent Watch The process of continuously monitoring newly published patent applications and issued patents in a particular field.
Patentability The issue of whether an invention is capable of being patented in a particular jurisdiction.
patentability search A search of existing patents and, perhaps, other publications to determine if the invention is novel and non obvious and thus patentable.
Patentable suitable to be patented; entitled by law to be protected by the issuance of a patent.
Patentable Subject Matter An invention that is capable of bing patented.
patentee the person to whom a patent was issued.
Patentschrift A granted German patent application.
Paternity the determination of who the father of a child is in order to arrange child custody and child support in the event of a divorce.
path The hierarchical description of where a directory, folder, or file is located on a computer or network.
Pattern Matching A generic term that describes any process that compares one files content with another files content.
Pattern Recognition Technology that searches data for like patterns and flags, and extracts the pertinent data, usually utilizing an algorithm.
payor number -- see customer number
PBG Patent Business Goals
PBG Final Rule Patent Business Goals Final Rule - implement streamlined patent practice; a result of the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999
PBX Private Branch Exchange - a telephony term describing a private telephone network used within an enterprise.
PC Personal computer.
PCI Peripheral Component Interface (Interconnect). A high-speed interconnect local bus used to support multimedia devices.
PCMCIA Personal Computer Memory Card International Association. Plug-in cards for computers (usually portables), which extend the storage and/or functionality.
PCT Patent Cooperation Treaty (more) provides a mechanism by which an applicant can file a single application that, when certain requirements have been…
PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) created a patent application that is standardized across the nations that signed it, which allows patent applicants to simultaneously seek protection for…
PCT Regulations provide rules concerning matters expressly refers to in the Patent Cooperation Treaty, any administrative requirements, matters, or procedures, and…
PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) A handheld device that provides any of the following features: computing, telephone, fax, Internet or networking.
PDF Portable Document Format - a file format developed by Adobe Systems. PDF captures formatting information from a variety of desktop publishing…
PDF (Portable Document Format) A proprietary format of Adobe Corporation, it has become a de facto standard for transmitting documents that the sender does not want to be altered and…
PDF Conversions The process of taking files in another file format and converting them to PDF.
PDF/A The International Standards Organization (ISO) specification of PDF for the long-term preservation of archived documents.
PEAI Patent Enterprise Access Integration
peer an individual having expertise in a specific functional area or discipline gained through documented training and experience.
Pendens Pending.
Pendente lite Pending the litigation; while the suit continues.
Pending The status of a patent application that occurs before either an application is abandoned (withdrawn) or a patent issues.
Pending Patent Application A patent application that is pending. See Pending.
Per annum Annually; by the year.
Per capita Per capita is the legal term for one of the ways that assets being transferred by your will can be distributed to the beneficiaries of your estate.
Per contra On the contrary.
Per curiam By the court; by the court as a whole.
Per diem Per diem is generally understood to include the consideration for the additional expenses that a worker has living away from home.
Per se Considered by itself; taken alone.
Per se doctrine Under this doctrine, an activity such as price fixing can be declared as a violation of the antitrust laws without necessity of a court inquiring into the…
Per stirpes Per stirpes is the legal term for transferring the assets of your estate to your children and their descendants.
Per viam By way of.
Peremptory challenge Request by a party that a judge not allow a certain prospective juror as a member of the jury. No reason or cause need be stated. See challenge for cause.
Performance Audits the review of laboratory administration, management, sections and/or analysts for compliance with policies, procedures, and operational effectiveness…
Periodical A publication which appears regularly but less often than daily.
Perjure To knowingly and willfully give false testimony under oath.
Perjury The criminal offense of making a false statement under oath.
Permanent alimony a type of alimony that is paid in regular intervals. Permanent alimony may change or be terminated upon the remarriage of the spouse receiving alimony…