Berne Convention. Copyright. An international copyright treaty providing that works created by citizens of one signatory nation will be fully protected in other signatory nations, without the need for local formalities. • The treaty was drafted in Berne in 1886 and revised in Berlin in 1908. It is now administered by the World Intellectual Property […]
Public Utility Holding Company Act. A federal law enacted in 1935 to protect investors and consumers from the economic disadvantages produced by the small number of holding companies that owned most of the nation’s utilities. • The Act also sought to protect the public from deceptive security advertising.15 USCA §§ 79 et seq. — Abbr.
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Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act. Hist. A 1930 protectionist statute that raised tariff rates on most articles imported into the U.S., and provoked U.S. trading partners to institute comparable tariff increases. • This Act is often cited as a factor in precipitating and spreading the Great Depression. The Act was named for the legislators who sponsored it,
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suspend, vb. 1. To interrupt; postpone; defer (the fire alarm suspended the prosecutor’s opening statement). 2. To temporarily keep (a person) from performing a function, occupying an office, holding a job, or exercising a right or privilege (the attorney’s law license was suspended for violating the Model Rules of Professional Conduct). [Cases: Licenses 38; Officers
required-records doctrine. The principle that the privilege against self-incrimination does not apply when one is being compelled to produce business records that are kept in accordance with government regulations and that involve public aspects. • Some courts have held that certain medical records and tax forms fall within this doctrine and are thus not protected
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A communication that is protected by law from compelled disclosure in a legal pro-ceeding, or that cannot be used against the person who made it. • Examples include an informant’s communication to a government agency and statements made in a legislative session by a legislator. See PRIVILEGE(3). [Cases: Witnesses 84–223. C.J.S. Witnesses §§ 297–389.]
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motion to lift the stay. Bankruptcy. A party’s request that the bankruptcy court alter the automatic bankruptcy stay to allow the movant to act against the debtor or the debtor’s property, as when a creditor seeks permission to foreclose on a lien because its security interest is not adequately protected. — Also termed motion for
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trademark application. A mark owner’s written request, filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, for federal registration of a mark, accompanied by a sample of the mark to be protected and the filing fee. • The application may describe either an existing mark that is in use or a proposed mark. — Also termed
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bill of indemnity. 1. Hist. An act of Parliament passed annually to protect officeholders who unwittingly fail to take a required oath from liability for acts done in an official capacity. • A more general statute, the Promissory Oaths Act, replaced the bill of indemnity in 1868. 2. A law protecting a public official from