IP Glossary - C

Country code top level domain. Example: .cn (China)

(also called a guarantee mark) is a distinctive trademark used to indicate that goods or services meet specific standards or requirements—such as quality, type, material, or method of manufacture—set by the owner of the mark; unlike collective marks, no membership in an association is needed, and the mark cannot be owned by anyone currently supplying the goods or services it certifies.

is the abbreviation for the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (2007/2013), which was one of the funding instruments of the EU to support research and innovation. CIP focused on the competitiveness of enterprises, in particular of SMEs.

Refers to a company which, after acquiring another company’s technology, IP rights, confidential information, etc. through negotiation, cooperation or collaboration, by-passes that company and sells directly to the market.

are primarily designed, produced or adapted for the purpose of enabling or facilitating the circumvention of technical measures that prevent unauthorised copying or restrict unauthorised access to copyright works.

a part of a patent application or specification. Defines the matter for which protection is sought in terms of technical features.

This means that the computer programme code is hidden, i.e. there are no possibilities to be modified. In general, an escrow agreement is performed so that it is available for the client.

are arrangements between holders of two or more potentially conflicting IP rights in which the parties define the use and scope of each right to prevent conflicts and clarify their respective rights in the marketplace.

are research projects with the aim of generating new knowledge. This new knowledge can be used to develop a new technology, process or product. They can vary in size, scope and budget, depending upon the proposed topic and theme.

a trademark owned by an association that distinguishes the goods or services of its members from those of external companies, with the association responsible for ensuring that all members using the mark comply with the standards required for its use in the course of trade.

A compulsory license is a government-authorised permission that allows someone other than the patent holder to produce a patented product or use a patented process without the patent owner's consent. Additionally, a government may itself use the patented invention under a compulsory license. This mechanism is a flexibility provided under the WTO's TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement, intended to balance patent rights with public interest, particularly in sectors like public health, where access to essential products or technologies is crucial.

is an invention which involves the use of a computer, computer network or other programmable apparatus, where one or more features are realised wholly or partly by means of a computer program.

 is information of a confidential nature that may include information of a personal, scientific, industrial, business, or commercial nature, that is not available to the public.

also known as non-disclosure agreement (NDA), is a private, legally binding contract in which one party (the disclosing party) shares valuable information—such as ideas, know-how, inventions, or business information—in confidence with another party (the receiving party), who is obligated not to disclose it to third parties; such agreements are essential for protecting sensitive information in business negotiations, employment relationships, and other contexts where maintaining confidentiality is critical.

is - in general - a group of institutions or companies acting together in the same project under common interest. In FP7 and Horizon 2020 it refers to all the participants in the same project.

is an agreement that participants conclude between themselves for the implementation of the project in FP7 and Horizon 2020. The agreement allows the participants to determine the detailed administrative and management provisions necessary to carry out their project. Within this agreement, parties also outline the rights and responsibilities of each member of the consortium concerning intellectual property. This agreement cannot contradict or negate the provisions established by the Grant Agreement or the Rules for Participation.

in Horizon 2020, refers to an action consisting primarily of accompanying measures such as standardisation, dissemination, awareness-raising and communication, networking, coordination or support services, policy dialogues and mutual learning exercises and studies, including design studies for new infrastructure, and may also include complementary activities of networking and coordination between programmes in different countries.

in FP7 and Horizon 2020, is the member of the consortium who is the principal point of contact on behalf of the members of the consortium in relations with the Commission or the relevant funding body. The coordinator is identified as such in the Grant Agreement.

is the exclusive legal right granted to the author or creator of a literary, musical, artistic, dramatic, or scientific work to publish, reproduce, adapt, distribute, sell, or otherwise authorize the use of their work. It protects the tangible expression of original ideas, not the ideas or concepts themselves, and encompasses both economic rights—which allow the creator to control and benefit from the use of the work—and moral rights, which include the right to claim authorship, object to distortion or mutilation, and control how and when the work is made public. Copyright protection arises automatically upon creation of the work, though registration can help establish ownership in cases of infringement.

the Community Research and Development Information System is the European Commission's primary public repository and portal to disseminate information on all EU-funded research projects and their results in the broadest sense.

is the Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, which runs from 2014 to 2020. It is an EU-funded programme meant to support enterprises and SMEs, in particular through measures aimed at facilitating their internationalisation, access to market, and access to finance. It is the successor to the Entrepreneurship and Innovation programme (EIP) under CIP.

The imitation of a genuine article with the intention of defrauding and making a profit from it.

is the deliberate imitation of genuine goods or trademarks, often of inferior quality, which are sold under the original brand’s name without the owner’s authorization, with the intent of exploiting the greater value or reputation of the authentic product; it may involve infringement of trademark, copyright, patent, or design rights, and combating it often requires specialized anti-counterfeiting measures.

Sale of counterfeit products using your brand.

Creator employees generally refers to employees who create creative works or invent inventions for their employer at the employer’s instruction or as part of the employee’s scope of employment, often using the financial and material resources of the employer.

the governmental agency in charge of examining and authorising imports and exports in a country. In some countries and under certain circumstances, customs officers can temporarily detain potential IP infringing shipments.

are the measures taken by customs authorities against counterfeiting and piracy when goods suspected of infringing intellectual property rights are entering a customs territory in the EU. Such measures can be taken on the authorities’ own initiative or upon explicit request from a right holder. When goods suspected of infringing its intellectual property rights enter the territory of a Member State, the right holder may file an application for action at the relevant customs authorities. Customs actions are an important instrument for the enforcement of IP rights.

the act of registering a domain name identical to a company’s product or trade mark names, with the purpose of selling the domain names back to the company (the rightful owner) at a premium price.