Intellectual Property Law Definitions

A complete set of vocabulary flashcards defining key legal terms, doctrines, and principles in Intellectual Property Law.

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

Statutory, negative legal rights granted by the State over intangible creative, inventive, and commercial assets. They confer the right to exclude third parties from making, using, reproducing, selling, or importing the protected subject matter without authorization, rather than an absolute affirmative right to practice.

Non-Interchangeability Rule (Pearl & Dean Doctrine)

The legal doctrine establishing that the different branches of intellectual property (trademarks, patents, and copyright) protect completely distinct legal interests and cannot be interchanged. Securing copyright protection over a design or drawing does not grant patent rights over the physical, utilitarian apparatus depicted therein.

First-to-File System

The registration regime wherein ownership and priority over a mark or patent belong to the person who files the application first in time, provided the application was made in good faith.

Public Domain

The body of knowledge, technological solutions, and creative works that are not protected by intellectual property rights—either due to expiration, forfeiture, or lack of statutory coverage—and are free for public use.

Mark

Any visible sign capable of distinguishing the goods (trademark) or services (service mark) of an enterprise.

Trade Name (Commercial Name)

The name or designation identifying or distinguishing an enterprise, business establishment, or corporate entity.

Trade Dress

The overall commercial visual appearance, image, packaging, shape, color combination, or container style of a product or business that signifies its source to consumers.

Spectrum of Distinctiveness

The legal scale used to measure the strength and registrability of trademarks, categorized into Fanciful Marks, Arbitrary Marks, Suggestive Marks, Descriptive Marks, and Generic Terms.

Fanciful Marks

Invented, coined words with no existing dictionary meaning (e.g., Kodak).

Arbitrary Marks

Real, existing words used in an entirely unrelated commercial context (e.g., Apple for computers).

Suggestive Marks

Marks that hint at the characteristics or quality of goods without directly describing them, requiring consumer imagination (e.g., Netflix).

Descriptive Marks

Terms that directly describe the kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose, or value of goods; generally unregistrable unless secondary meaning is established.

Generic Terms

Common category or functional names of products/services that can never be monopolized or registered.

Doctrine of Secondary Meaning (Sec. 123.2)

A rule permitting the registration of a descriptive mark if, through exclusive and continuous commercial use in the Philippines for at least five (5) years, it has become distinctive of the applicant's goods or services in the mind of the consuming public.

Declaration of Actual Use (DAU)

A mandatory statutory compliance document accompanied by proof of actual commercial use of a registered mark in the Philippines, required to maintain registration and prevent automatic cancellation.

Likelihood of Confusion

The legal standard for trademark infringement where consumers are confused as to the source or origin of goods (Confusion of Goods) or the affiliation/sponsorship of a business (Confusion of Business).

Dominancy Test

The mandatory judicial test in the Philippines that focuses on the prevalent, dominant, visual, aural, or conceptual features of competing marks that generate confusion.

Trademark Infringement (Sec. 155)

The unauthorized commercial use or colorable imitation of a registered trademark without consent, where such use is likely to cause confusion, mistake, or deceit. Fraudulent intent is not required.

Unfair Competition (Sec. 168)

The passing off or attempting to pass off one's goods, services, or business as that of another through deceit, false representations, or fraudulent means. Prior registration is not required, but fraudulent intent is essential.

Invention Patent

An exclusive statutory grant given by the government to an inventor for a technical solution to a technical problem in any field of human activity that is new, involves an inventive step, and is industrially applicable.

Absolute Novelty (Sec. 23)

The requirement that an invention must not form part of the "Prior Art" anywhere in the world prior to the filing or priority date.

Prior Art

All technical information disclosed to the public anywhere in the world by means of publication, patent applications, oral disclosure, or public use prior to the filing date.

Person Having Ordinary Skill in the Art (PHOSITA)

The hypothetical legal person possessing ordinary technical knowledge and skill in a specific technical field, used as the benchmark to test whether an invention involves an Inventive Step.

Utility Model

An intellectual property right protecting technical modifications or practical innovations that possess lower inventive step requirements than an invention patent, granted for a non-renewable term of 7 years.

Industrial Design

Any composition of lines or colors, or any three-dimensional form, whether or not associated with lines or colors, provided that such composition or form gives a special appearance to and can serve as a pattern for an industrial or handicraft product.

Literal Infringement

Patent infringement that occurs when an accused device or process contains every single technical element set forth in the literal claims of a patent.

Doctrine of Equivalents

A doctrine expanding patent protection to cover devices or processes that perform substantially the same function, in substantially the same way, to achieve substantially the same result (Function-Way-Result Test) as the patented invention.

Trade Secret

Any formula, pattern, device, customer database, compilation of information, or manufacturing process that derives independent commercial value from not being generally known and is subject to reasonable efforts under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy.

Copyright

The statutory property right granted to authors, artists, and creators over original literary, artistic, scientific, and software works.

Automatic Protection (Sec. 172.2)

The rule establishing that copyright protection attaches automatically to a work from the precise moment of its creation, without needing formal registration or deposit.

Split Ownership Doctrine (Sec. 178.4)

The statutory rule governing commissioned works (external contractors) where ownership is bifurcated: the client owns the physical deliverable, but the independent contractor retains the copyright, unless transferred via an express written contract assignment.

Fair Use (Sec. 185)

A statutory defense allowing the limited, non-infringing use of copyrighted material without permission for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research, evaluated under a statutory four-factor test.

Moral Rights (Sec. 193)

Non-economic rights belonging exclusively to the author, including the right of attribution (paternity right) and the right to preserve the structural integrity of the work against alteration.

Technology Transfer Arrangement (TTA) (Sec. 85)

Any contract or agreement involving the transfer of systematic knowledge, technical expertise, software, or IP licensing for the manufacture of a product, application of a process, or rendering of a service.

Prohibited Clauses (Sec. 87)

Contractual provisions in TTAs deemed anti-competitive and illegal per se, such as tying purchase requirements, price-fixing, and mandatory grant-backs.

Mandatory Clauses (Sec. 88)

Contractual clauses required in all TTAs, including the mandate that Philippine law shall govern and venue shall be the licensee's domicile.

Malum Prohibitum (in IP Law)

The principle holding that statutory IP infringement (such as copyright or patent violations) constitutes an offense defined by law where liability attaches regardless of good faith or lack of intent.