Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 59.1 > Chapter 43 - Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act

• Access contract: means a contract to obtain by electronic means access to, or information from, an information processing system of another person, or the equivalent of such access. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Access material: means any information or material, such as a document, address, or access code, that is necessary to obtain authorized access to information or control or possession of a copy. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Aggrieved party: means a party entitled to a remedy for breach of contract. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Agreement: means the bargain of the parties in fact as found in their language or by implication from other circumstances, including course of performance, course of dealing, and usage of trade as provided in this chapter. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attribution procedure: means a procedure to verify that an electronic authentication, display, message, record, or performance is that of a particular person or to detect changes or errors in information. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Authenticate: means (i) to sign or (ii) with the intent to sign a record, to execute or adopt an electronic symbol, sound, message, or process referring to, attached to, included in, or logically associated or linked with, that record. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Automated transaction: means a transaction in which a contract is formed in whole or part by electronic actions of one or both parties that are not previously reviewed by an individual in the ordinary course. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Board: means the Commonwealth Transportation Board. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• Cancellation: means the ending of a contract by a party because of breach of contract by another party. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• City: has the meaning assigned to it in § 1-208. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Component governments: means the counties and cities composing a transportation district and the various departments, bureaus, and divisions of such counties and cities. See Virginia Code 33.2-1901
• Computer: means an electronic device that accepts information in digital or similar form and manipulates it for a result based on a sequence of instructions. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Computer information: means information in electronic form that is obtained from or through the use of a computer or that is in a form capable of being processed by a computer. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Computer information transaction: means an agreement or the performance of it to create, modify, transfer, or license computer information or informational rights in computer information. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Computer program: means a set of statements or instructions to be used directly or indirectly in a computer to bring about a certain result. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Consumer: means an individual who is a licensee of information or informational rights that the individual at the time of contracting intended to be used primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Consumer contract: means a contract between a merchant licensor and a consumer. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Contract: means the total legal obligation resulting from the parties' agreement as affected by this chapter and other applicable law. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Contract fee: means the price, fee, rent, or royalty payable in a contract under this chapter or any part of the amount payable. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Contractual use term: means an enforceable term that defines or limits the use, disclosure of, or access to licensed information or informational rights, including a term that defines the scope of a license. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Copy: means the medium on which information is fixed on a temporary or permanent basis and from which it can be perceived, reproduced, used, or communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Course of dealing: means a sequence of previous conduct between the parties to a particular transaction which establishes a common basis of understanding for interpreting their expressions and other conduct. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Course of performance: means repeated performances, under a contract that involves repeated occasions for performance, which are accepted or acquiesced in without objection by a party having knowledge of the nature of the performance and an opportunity to object to it. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Court: includes an arbitration or other dispute-resolution forum if the parties have agreed to use of that forum or its use is required by law. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Department: means the Department of Transportation. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• Direct damages: means compensation for losses measured by § Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• District: means a transportation district authorized to be created by this chapter. See Virginia Code 33.2-1901
• district commission: means the governing body of a district. See Virginia Code 33.2-1901
• Electronic: means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Electronic agent: means a computer program, or electronic or other automated means, used independently to initiate an action, or to respond to electronic messages or performances, on the person's behalf without review or action by an individual at the time of the action or response to the message or performance. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Electronic message: means a record or display that is stored, generated, or transmitted by electronic means for the purpose of communication to another person or electronic agent. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• 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.
• facilities: means all those matters and things utilized in rendering transportation service by means of rail, bus, water, or air and any other mode of travel, including tracks, rights-of-way, bridges, tunnels, subways, and rolling stock for rail, motor vehicle, marine, and air transportation; stations, terminals, and ports; areas for parking; buildings; structures; and all equipment, fixtures, and business activities reasonably required for the performance of transportation service, but does not include any such facilities owned by any person, company, association, or corporation the major part of whose transportation service extends beyond a transportation district created in this chapter. See Virginia Code 33.2-1901
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Financial accommodation contract: means an agreement under which a person extends a financial accommodation to a licensee and which does not create a security interest governed by Title 8. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Financial services transaction: means an agreement that provides for, or a transaction that is, or entails access to, use, transfer, clearance, settlement, or processing of:

  (A) a deposit, loan, funds, or monetary value represented in electronic form and stored or capable of storage by electronic means and retrievable and transferable by electronic means, or other right to payment to or from a person;

  (B) an instrument or other item;

  (C) a payment order, credit card transaction, debit card transaction, funds transfer, automated clearing house transfer, or similar wholesale or retail transfer of funds;

  (D) a letter of credit, document of title, financial asset, investment property, or similar asset held in a fiduciary or agency capacity; or

  (E) related identifying, verifying, access-enabling, authorizing, or monitoring information. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2

• Financier: means a person that provides a financial accommodation to a licensee under a financial accommodation contract and either (i) becomes a licensee for the purpose of transferring or sublicensing the license to the party to which the financial accommodation is provided or (ii) obtains a contractual right under the financial accommodation contract to preclude the licensee's use of the information or informational rights under a license in the event of breach of the financial accommodation contract. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• give notice: means to take such steps as may be reasonably required to inform the other person in the ordinary course, whether or not the other person actually comes to know of it. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Good faith: means honesty in fact and the observance of reasonable commercial standards of fair dealing. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Goods: means all things that are movable at the time relevant to the computer information transaction. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Governing bodies: means the boards of supervisors of counties and councils of cities composing a transportation district. See Virginia Code 33.2-1901
• in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Virginia Code 1-257
• Information: means data, text, images, sounds, mask works, or computer programs, including collections and compilations of them. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Information processing system: means an electronic system for creating, generating, sending, receiving, storing, displaying, or processing information. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Informational content: means information that is intended to be communicated to or perceived by an individual in the ordinary use of the information, or the equivalent of that information. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Informational rights: include all rights in information created under laws governing patents, copyrights, mask works, trade secrets, trademarks, publicity rights, or any other law that gives a person, independently of contract, a right to control or preclude another person's use of or access to the information on the basis of the rights holder's interest in the information. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Insurance services transaction: means an agreement between an insurer and an insured that provides for, or a transaction that is or entails access to, use, transfer, clearance, settlement, or processing of:

  (A) an insurance policy, contract, or certificate; or

  (B) a right to payment under an insurance policy, contract or certificate. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2

• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• License: means a contract that authorizes access to, or use, distribution, performance, modification, or reproduction of, information or informational rights, but expressly limits the access or uses authorized or expressly grants fewer than all rights in the information, whether or not the transferee has title to a licensed copy. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Licensee: means a person entitled by agreement to acquire or exercise rights in, or to have access to or use of, computer information under an agreement to which this chapter applies. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Licensor: means a person obligated by agreement to transfer or create rights in, or to give access to or use of, computer information or informational rights in it under an agreement to which this chapter applies. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• 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
• Mass-market license: means a standard form used in a mass-market transaction. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Mass-market transaction: means a transaction that is:

  (A) a consumer contract; or

  (B) any other transaction with an end-user licensee if:

  (i) the transaction is for information or informational rights directed to the general public as a whole, including consumers, under substantially the same terms for the same information;

  (ii) the licensee acquires the information or informational rights in a retail transaction under terms consistent with an ordinary transaction in a retail market; and

  (iii) the transaction is not (a) a contract for redistribution or for public performance or public display of a copyrighted work; (b) a transaction in which the information is customized or otherwise specially prepared by the licensor for the licensee, other than minor customization using a capability of the information intended for that purpose; (c) a site license; or (d) an access contract. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2

• Merchant: means a person:

  (A) who deals in information or informational rights of the kind involved in the transaction;

  (B) who by the person's occupation holds himself out as having knowledge or skill peculiar to the relevant aspect of the business practices or information involved in the transaction; or

  (C) to whom the knowledge or skill peculiar to the practices or information involved in the transaction may be attributed by the person's employment of an agent or broker or other intermediary who by his occupation holds himself out as having the knowledge or skill. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2

• Party: means a person that engages in a transaction or makes an agreement under this chapter. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Person: means an individual, partnership, association, or corporation or any governmental agency or authority. See Virginia Code 33.2-1901
• Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, governmental subdivision, instrumentality, or agency, public corporation, or any other legal or commercial entity. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public corporation: means the Commonwealth of Virginia or any political subdivision thereof or any incorporated municipality therein or any public agency of the Commonwealth or of any political subdivision thereof or of any municipality therein. See Virginia Code 1-219.1
• Published informational content: means informational content prepared for or made available to recipients generally, or to a class of recipients, in substantially the same form. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Receipt: means :

  (A) with respect to a copy, taking delivery; or

  (B) with respect to a notice:

  (i) coming to a person's attention; or

  (ii) being delivered to and available at a location or system designated by agreement for that purpose or, in the absence of an agreed location or system: (a) being delivered at the person's residence, or the person's place of business through which the contract was made, or at any other place held out by the person as a place for receipt of communications of the kind; or (b) in the case of an electronic notice, coming into existence in an information processing system or at an address in that system in a form capable of being processed by or perceived from a system of that type by a recipient, if the recipient uses, or otherwise has designated or holds out, that place or system for receipt of notices of the kind to be given and the sender does not know that the notice cannot be accessed from that place. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2

• Receive: means to take receipt. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Release: means an agreement by a party not to object to, or exercise any rights or pursue any remedies to limit, the use of information or informational rights which agreement does not require an affirmative act by the party to enable or support the other party's use of the information or informational rights. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Secretary: means the Secretary of Transportation. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• Send: means , with any costs provided for and properly addressed or directed as reasonable under the circumstances or as otherwise agreed, to deposit a record in the mail or with a commercially reasonable carrier, to deliver a record for transmission to or re-creation in another location or information processing system, or to take the steps necessary to initiate transmission to or re-creation of a record in another location or information processing system. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Standard form: means a record or a group of related records containing terms prepared for repeated use in transactions and so used in a transaction in which there was no negotiated change of terms by individuals except to set the price, quantity, method of payment, selection among standard options, or time or method of delivery. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• State: means a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. See Virginia Code 33.2-1901
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• such agency: means an agency authorized by, or arising from action of, the General Assembly to plan for or provide transportation facilities and service for a metropolitan area located wholly or in part in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 33.2-1901
• Termination: means the ending of a contract by a party pursuant to a power created by agreement or law otherwise than because of breach of contract. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Usage of trade: means any practice or method of dealing that has such regularity of observance in a place, vocation, or trade as to justify an expectation that it will be observed with respect to the transaction in question. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2