Terms Used In U.S. Code > Title 35 > Part II > Chapter 18 - Patent Rights in Inventions Made With Federal Assistance

• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• contractor: means any person, small business firm, or nonprofit organization that is a party to a funding agreement. See 35 USC 201
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Federal agency: means any executive agency as defined in section 105 of title 5, and the military departments as defined by section 102 of title 5. See 35 USC 201
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• funding agreement: means any contract, grant, or cooperative agreement entered into between any Federal agency, other than the Tennessee Valley Authority, and any contractor for the performance of experimental, developmental, or research work funded in whole or in part by the Federal Government. See 35 USC 201
• individual: shall include every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development. See 1 USC 8
• invention: means any invention or discovery which is or may be patentable or otherwise protectable under this title or any novel variety of plant which is or may be protectable under the Plant Variety Protection Act (7 U. See 35 USC 201
• inventor: means the individual or, if a joint invention, the individuals collectively who invented or discovered the subject matter of the invention. See 35 USC 100
• 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.
• made: when used in relation to any invention means the conception or first actual reduction to practice of such invention. See 35 USC 201
• nonprofit organization: means universities and other institutions of higher education or an organization of the type described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U. See 35 USC 201
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• practical application: means to manufacture in the case of a composition or product, to practice in the case of a process or method, or to operate in the case of a machine or system. See 35 USC 201
• process: means process, art or method, and includes a new use of a known process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, or material. See 35 USC 100
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• small business firm: means a small business concern as defined at section 2 of Public Law 85-536 (15 U. See 35 USC 201
• State: means a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other territory or possession of the United States. See 1 USC 7
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• subject invention: means any invention of the contractor conceived or first actually reduced to practice in the performance of work under a funding agreement: Provided, That in the case of a variety of plant, the date of determination (as defined in section 41(d) ¹ of the Plant Variety Protection Act (7 U. See 35 USC 201