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National Contact Points (NCPs)

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.

Nice Classification

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.

Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)

see confidentiality agreement.

Non-Exclusive License

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

Non-profit legal entity

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.

Novelty

is one of the three basic patentability requirements under the European Patent Convention. It means that the invention must not form part of the state of the art, that is, that it must never have been disclosed to the public in any way, anywhere, before the date of filing of the patent application (or before the priority date). See also: Industrial applicability and Inventive step.