legal fiction. An assumption that something is true even though it may be untrue, made esp. in judicial reasoning to alter how a legal rule operates; specif., a device by which a legal rule or institution is diverted from its original purpose to accomplish indirectly some other object. • The constructive trust is an example […]
incentive-to-design-around theory. Patents. The economic theory justifying the grant of patent rights based on their tendency to encourage others to design substitutes and improvements that are better or cheaper. Cf. INCENTIVE-TO-COMMERCIALIZE THEORY Y; INCENTIVE-TO-DISCLOSE THEORY; INCENTIVE-TO-INVENT THEORY.
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beta testing. Intellectual property. The process of testing products and services, esp. software, under real-life conditions. • Consumers often engage in beta testing at no cost in exchange for reporting to the developer how satisfied they are, any problems they encounter, and any suggested improvements. To protect a trade secret or to avoid a statutory
patentable subject matter. Things that by law can be patented; any machine, process, manufacture, or material composition, or an improvement to such things, that (1) is discovered or invented, (2) is new and useful, and (3) meets the statutory conditions and requirements to qualify for a patent. • Patents may be issued for “any new
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A tax to pay for improvements (such as sewers and sidewalks) in a designated area, levied on property owners who will benefit from the improvements. — Also termed local-improvement assessment. [Cases: Municipal Corporations 405. C.J.S. Municipal Corporations §§ 1116–1118.]
leapfrog development. An improvement of land that requires the extension of public facilities from their current stopping point, through undeveloped land that may be scheduled for future development, to the site of the improvement.
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good-faith improver. A person who makes improvements to real property while actually and reasonably be-lieving himself or herself to be the owner or lawful occupant. • The improver may be entitled to recover the value of the improvements from the true owner or to remove them. See IMPROVEMENT.
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conservation. Environmental law. The supervision, management, and maintenance of natural resources; the protection, improvement, and use of natural resources in a way that ensures the highest social as well as economic benefits. [Cases: Environmental Law 31–51.]
American Society of Writers on Legal Subjects. The formal name for Scribes, an association of lawyers dedi-cated to the improvement of legal writing. Founded in 1953, it sponsors annual writing competitions and publishes The Scribes Journal of Legal Writing, the first journal devoted exclusively to legal writing.
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tenant-right. English law. A tenant’s right, upon termination of the tenancy, to payment for unexhausted improvements made on the holding. • This right is governed by the Agricultural Holdings Act of 1986.