IP Glossary - N

Opposition: administrative mechanism in which a third party opposes the grant of a patent or a trademark on the grounds of his/her prior right.

are national structures established by governments of the EU member states and the states associated to the framework programme. NCPs give personalised support on the spot and in the applicants' own languages. The NCP systems can vary from one country to another, from highly centralised to decentralised networks, and a number of very different actors, from ministries to universities, research centres and special agencies to private consulting companies.

is an international classification system for goods and services that is used for the registration of trade marks. The system is administered by WIPO and updated regularly. It currently comprises 45 classes in total: 34 for goods and 11 for services. The Nice Classification is used in around 150 IP offices worldwide, including organisations such as EUIPO and WIPO.

also called a confidentiality agreement, is a contract designed to protect the secrecy and confidentiality of information shared between parties—such as business partners or employees—by setting rules and limits on its use and including penalty clauses for any breach of confidentiality. (See confidentiality agreement.)

is when the licensor retains the right to grant an unlimited number of licenses to third parties.

NFT, short for "non-fungible token", is a digital asset that is unique and cannot be exchanged on a one-to-one basis with other assets, unlike physical money or cryptocurrencies, which are fungible. Each NFT is embedded with a digital signature that ensures its uniqueness. NFTs can take various forms, including artwork, comic books, sports collectibles, trading cards, videos, audio files, and other digital formats. Additionally, NFTs often encompass various intellectual property rights, such as copyright, patents, and trade marks that can be commercialized by its creators.

means, in the context of Horizon 2020, a legal entity which by its legal form is a non-profit organisation or which has a legal or statutory obligation not to distribute profits to its shareholders or individual members.

is one of the three basic patentability requirements under the European Patent Convention, requiring that, before the filing date (or priority date) of a patent application, the invention must not have been publicly disclosed in any form—whether through publications, public use, or other means—anywhere in the world, and must not be identical to any prior application filed by another person.