Intellectual Property Law Glossary

noun A Latin term meaning 'friend of the court', referring to a person or organization that is not a party to a case but offers information or expertise to assist the court in making a decision

• The amicus curiae brief submitted by the legal expert provided valuable insight to the court.
• The friend of the court brief, or amicus curiae, was really helpful in explaining the legal issues.
• The court got some extra help from the amicus curiae, which was pretty cool.
• The amicus curiae acted as a guiding light for the court in understanding the complex legal matters.

verb to jointly own something with one or more other people

• The business partners decided to co-own the company to share ownership and responsibilities.
• My brother and I are going to co-own a car together.
• Let's co-own this project and split the work evenly.
• We co-own the memories of our childhood, no one can take that away from us.

noun a term used in the pharmaceutical industry to describe the period when multiple patents for blockbuster drugs expire, allowing generic versions to enter the market

• The pharmaceutical company is facing a significant revenue decline due to the upcoming patent cliff.
• The drug company is about to lose a lot of money because of the patent cliff.
• The company is screwed when the patent cliff hits.
• The patent cliff looms like a dark cloud over the company's future profits.