Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 59.1 > Chapter 18.1 - Bad Faith Assertions of Patent Infringement

• Assertion of patent infringement: means (i) sending or delivering a demand letter to a target; (ii) threatening a target with litigation asserting, alleging, or claiming that the target has engaged in patent infringement; (iii) sending or delivering a demand letter to the customers of a target; or (iv) otherwise making claims or allegations, other than those made in litigation against a target, that a target has engaged in patent infringement or that a target should obtain a license to a patent in order to avoid litigation. See Virginia Code 59.1-215.1
• Authority: means the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority. See Virginia Code 33.2-287
• Board: means the Board of Directors of the Authority. See Virginia Code 33.2-287
• Bonds: means the revenue notes, bonds, certificates, and other evidences of indebtedness or obligations of the Authority. See Virginia Code 33.2-287
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Demand letter: means a letter, email, or other communication asserting, alleging, or claiming that the target has engaged in patent infringement, or that a target should obtain a license to a patent in order to avoid litigation, or any similar assertion. See Virginia Code 59.1-215.1
• Department: means the Department of Rail and Public Transportation. See Virginia Code 33.2-287
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Maintenance: means (i) ordinary maintenance; (ii) maintenance replacement; (iii) operations that include traffic signal synchronization, incident management, and other intelligent transportation system functions; and (iv) any other categories of maintenance that may be designated by the Commissioner of Highways. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• Patent infringement: means any conduct that constitutes infringement pursuant to applicable law, including Virginia Code 59.1-215.1
• Rail facilities: includes all property or interests necessary or convenient for the acquiring, providing, using, equipping, or maintaining of a rail facility or system, including right-of-way, trackwork, train controls, stations, and maintenance facilities. See Virginia Code 33.2-287
• State: includes District of Columbia;

  (f) "Transit facilities" means all real and personal property located in the Zone, necessary or useful in rendering transit service between points within the Zone, by means of rail, bus, water or air and any other mode of travel, including, without limitation, tracks, rights-of-way, bridges, tunnels, subways, rolling stock for rail, motor vehicle, marine and air transportation, stations, terminals and ports, areas for parking and all equipment, fixtures, buildings and structures and services incidental to or required in connection with the performance of transit service;

  (g) "Transit services" means the transportation of persons and their packages and baggage by means of transit facilities between points within the Zone including the transportation of newspapers, express and mail between such points, and charter service which originates within the Zone but does not include taxicab service or individual-ticket-sales sightseeing operations;

  (h) "Transit Zone" or "Zone" means the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Zone created and described in Section 3 as well as any additional area that may be added pursuant to Section 83(a) of this Compact; and

  (i) "WMATC" means Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Commission. See Virginia Code 33.2-3100

• Target: means a person residing in, conducting substantial business in, or having its principal place of business in the Commonwealth and with respect to whom an assertion of patent infringement is made. See Virginia Code 59.1-215.1
• United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255