distribution right. Copyright. A copyright holder’s exclusive right to sell, lease, or otherwise transfer copies of the protected work to the public. Cf. FIRST-SALE DOCTRINE. [Cases: Copyrights and Intellectual Property 36. C.J.S. Copyrights and Intellectual Property §§ 10, 40–41, 97.]
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Uniform Determination of Death Act. A 1978 model statute that provides a comprehensive basis for determining death. • This is a technical act that merely defines death clinically and does not deal with suicide, assisted suicide, or the right to die. The Act was revised in 1980. It has been adopted in almost all states.
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utlagh ([schwa]t-law). [Old English] Hist. A person outside the protection of the law; an outlaw. Cf. INLAGH.
Patents. Information that appears to anticipate or obviate an invention, but does not actually do so because the earlier described invention was neither reduced to practice nor adequately disclosed in any documents. • Nuisance prior art does not bar a patent’s issuance, but it may prolong the prosecution. The term does not apply to efforts
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examination system. Patents. A patent system in which an invention is subjected to official scrutiny to determine whether it qualifies for patent protection. Cf. REGISTRATION SYSTEM.
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plain-language law. Legislation requiring nontechnical, readily comprehensible language in consumer contracts such as residential leases or insurance policies. • Many of these laws have genuinely simplified the needlessly obscure language in which consumer contracts have traditionally been couched. [Cases: Consumer Protection 6; Insurance 1773. C.J.S. Credit Reporting Agencies; Consumer Protection §§ 29–31, 33–39, 60–65; Insurance
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One spouse’s willful failure without just cause to provide for the care, protection, or support of the other spouse who is in ill health or needy circumstances. [Cases: Husband and Wife 302, 304.]
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support agreement. Oil & gas. A contract between people or entities in the oil-and-gas industry to promote exploratory operations. • Generally, one party agrees to contribute money or property to another if the other will drill a well on leases that it holds and provide the contributing party with information from tests conducted. For the
vox signata (vahks sig-nay-t[schwa]). [Law Latin] Hist. A technical word; a formal word. Pl. voces signatae.
desertion, n. The willful and unjustified abandonment of a person’s duties or obligations, esp. to military service or to a spouse or family. • In family law, the five elements of spousal desertion are (1) a cessation of cohabitation, (2) the lapse of a statutory period, (3) an intention to abandon, (4) a lack of