Glossary

Act on the Right in Inventions made at Higher Education Institutions
This Act seeks to promote the recognition, protection and exploitation of inventions made in Finnish universities. It seeks to do so in the most appropriate manner for both the educational institutions themselves and society. The law determines who has the right to the patentable (in Finland) inventions of university employees, and on what grounds.

Agency agreement
Agents are responsible for selling the invention-based products in a given area on behalf of the owner of the invention, i.e. the principal. The agent does not enter into sales agreements under its own name but only prepares sales transactions on behalf of the principal. The actual sales agreement is made between the principal and the purchasing party. The agent does not bear any commercial risk for the products, it only represents the products of the owner of the invention (principal). Financial compensation is paid for the agent's services, often defined as a percentage of the amount of sales. It is beneficial to make an agency agreement when there are relatively few customers in a given target market.

Annual progress report
In accordance with the terms of the Foundation's funding agreement, the inventor must submit a report on an annual basis, on the use of Foundation funding. This report must detail measures taken during the previous year in order to carry the invention project forward.

Business plan
Drawing up a business plan forms a fundamental element in a company's establishment and development. Such a plan describes the firm's business operations, and their bases and objectives. In most cases, they also depict its products, customers, operating practices and resources. The formulation of a business plan is preceded by an analysis of the company's strengths and weaknesses and its operating environment.

Commercial exploitation
This refers to exercising the industrial property rights to the idea in question in starting up, developing or expanding business operations.

Commercial exploiter
This is a company which obtains the rights to the commercial exploitation of the patent or some other idea protected under industrial property rights. In most cases, a commercial exploiter is a licensee.

Confidentiality agreement
Confidentiality agreements aim at maintaining the secrecy of confidential information and material. In addition, they prevent the recipient of information from using it for purposes other than those intended under the agreement. Such agreements determine how any confidential information handed over should be handled, for what purposes it may be used and, most of all, what constitutes confidential information. Usually, a separate confidentiality agreement is applied at the outset of negotiations, when confidential information is exchanged between the parties as the basis of discussions on possible cooperation.

Copyright
Copyright is a temporally and materially limited exclusive right to determine the use of a work. It is guaranteed under property rights within the constitution. Copyright is automatically conferred to the creator upon the completion of a work. To be protected, such a work must be the result of independent and original, intellectual and creative work. This property right gives the creator the exclusive right to prevent others from using the work without his/her permission. Thus, creators gain revenue from authorising the use of the work against a charge.

De minimis
According to the de minimis rule, the total public funds or the equivalent provided to a firm may total a maximum of EUR 200,000 over any three tax years. This period begins upon the initial granting of ‘de minimis' funding. The de minimis rule has been applied to Foundation funding since 1^st January 2005. Funding granted by the Foundation prior to this time has not been considered 'de minimis'.

Demo
A descriptive presentation of, say, an idea or product.

Design right, design protection
Design right or protection is intended to cover the visual design of an object, granting exclusive rights to the design's exploitation for a certain period. ‘Design' refers to the appearance of a product or part based on the product or its ornamental design, such as lines, contours, colours, form, surface structures or materials. Such a right is national and the design must be registered in each country in question. Registration requires that the design be new and unique. The National Board of Patents and Registration functions as Finland's registration office.

Distribution agreement
A distribution agreement involves the retailer purchasing products from the owner of the invention and reselling them on its own account, i.e. making sales contracts with the purchasers under its own name. The retailer bears the financial risk since it first purchases the products, and then resells them at its own commercial risk. The retailer determines the product prices itself. Typically, entering into a distribution agreement proves advantageous when there are several potential customers in the target area.

Employee invention
According to the Act on the Right in Employee Inventions, on certain conditions an employer can obtain the rights to the inventions of employees. The prerequisites for this include the inventor being in an employment relationship with the employer, the invention being patentable in Finland and the employer being able to utilise the invention in the industry in which the company or the concern operates. If the invention was created at work as the result of a specific task then the employer holds the rights to it, even if the invention's exploitation is unrelated to the company's line of business or that of any other company within the concern.

ELY Centres
Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centres) are regional service and development centres. They provide expertise and support to companies throughout all stages of their lifecycles, participate in the development of the innovation environment, manage regional labour policies and promote the development of agriculture and the rural economy. ELY Centres, of which there are 15, fall under the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry of the Interior.

EPC, European Patent Convention
Through an EPC patent application patens can be obtained in 30 European countries. Applications are handled and patents granted through the European Patent Office (EPO). The names of the contracting and extension states concerned must be cited on the application. Once a patent has been granted, it can be rendered valid in the cited countries by submitting a translation of it to each country's patent office in the locally approved language. European patent applications can be submitted either via the National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland, or directly to the EPO.

EPO, The European Patent Office
The EPO handles European patent applications and grants the related patents. Based in Munich, Germany, the EPO has a branch office in the Hague, Holland, an outlet in Berlin, Germany and a patent information centre in Vienna, Austria.

espacenet
Espacenet is a patent publication database which covers various identification data and patent publications in over 60 countries. It has two kinds of databases - national and worldwide. Its use is free of charge and the Finnish language version can be found at http://www.espacenet.com/.

Idea
An idea is a new concept or preliminary solution for a problem.

Immaterial rights
These are traditionally divided into two main categories, industrial property rights and copyrights.

INNOFINLAND
INNOFINLAND promotes the development of novel inventions into commercial products and acts as a spur for new business activities and cooperation. The President of Finland is its patron. INNOFINLAND's key activities include the INNOFINLAND contests, regional events, INNOSCHOOL innovation events for schoolchildren and the INNOINT invention contest for conscripts.

Innovation
An innovation is a product, process, method or some other invention which has been developed into a commercial success. Of course, an innovation need not be patentable. The term is also used to refer to an idea, practice or object which people view as being novel.

Innovation advisor
Innovation advisors form part of the Foundation's expert network and are based in universities, assisting researchers, staff and students in recognising and developing research-based inventions. Innovation advisors advise on the development, protection and commercialisation of inventions and provide guidance in taking the invention process forward.

Industrial property rights
Industrial property rights are immaterial rights. Immaterial rights are divided into two main categories, industrial property rights and copyrights. Thus, industrial property rights are exclusive rights protecting inventions, and marks used to identify goods and services and, for example, the visual design of a product. Common types of industrial property rights include patents, utility models, design rights and trademarks.

Invention
An invention provides a novel and non-obvious industrially applicable solution to a problem. It is a new machine or method, or an improvement on the prior art. Inventions can also be based on the novel application of existing technology.

Innovation advisor
Innovation advisors advise local inventors and small companies on invention issues, such as protection and developing the invention into a commercial product. They are located in ELY Centres and form part of the expert network of the Foundation for Finnish Inventions.

Inventiveness
To be patentable, an invention must fulfil certain requirements. These are novelty, inventiveness and industrial applicability. Being inventive means that an invention must be fundamentally differentiated from the prior art. It must thereby seem inventive to professionals within the industry. The new solution should thereby not be obvioius to professionals within the industry.

Inventor association
An inventor association is a regional association of inventors. The Federation of Finnish Inventors' Associations (KEKE ry) is the national organisation for the regional associations..

IPR
IPR, or Intellectual Property Rights, refers to immaterial rights, which are divided into the two main categories of industrial property rights and copyrights.

KEKE (Federation of Finnish Inventors' Associations)
This is the national organisation for Finnish inventors' associations. It provides support to Finnish inventors and promotes and develops invention activities. Functioning as a professional, non-profit-making forum, it also promotes cooperation between inventors and enhances the general prerequisites for the exploitation of inventions.

Letter of intent
Through a letter of intent the parties declare their intent to negotiate on a contractual issue. Such agreements do not bind either party into making an actual agreement, thus not entailing a direct contractual commitment.

Licence, licensing
By licensing the invention, the licensor hands over rights to the invention to the licensee (usually rights of use) in return for compensation. The proprietary rights remain with the owner, that is with the licensor. This is a practical solution in situations in which the invention's owner lacks sufficient resources for the invention's commercialisation, or is seeking international partners.

Licensing agreement
By licensing the invention, the licensor hands over rights to the invention to the licensee (usually rights of use) in return for compensation. The proprietary rights remain with the owner, in other words with the licensor.

Microenterprise
A microenterprise is a firm with less than 10 employees and with net sales or a balance sheet total of EUR 2 million at most.

National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland
This is an organisation specialised in industrial property rights and business and corporation activities. Among other things, the Board maintains a trade register, an enterprise mortgage register, a register of associations and a register of foundations, while granting patents, utility models, design rights and trademarks. It is a government office under the Ministry of Employment and the Economy.

Option agreement
These are used when a potential commercial exploiter is interested in the invention and would like to perform a preliminary investigation of e.g. its suitability to its own business operations. Through such an agreement, the firm obtains priority in investigating the invention and concluding a licensing agreement or buying the invention, during the option period. For its part, during the same period, the owner of the invention undertakes not to negotiate the commercialisation of the invention with other parties.

Patent, patenting
From the point at which a patent is granted, it provides the owner of an invention with exclusive rights with a certain duration to the professional exploitation of said invention. A patent can be obtained for an invention which is industrially applicable, novel and inventive with respect to the prior art. Patentable inventions comprise the concrete implementation of an idea, or they are a machine, product, process or method, such as a production method or the new use of an existing product. A patent confers national rights, valid only in the country in which such protection was applied for and obtained. In Finland, the National Board of Patents and Registration grants patents.

Patent application
Patent applications must be made in writing to the National Board of Patents and Registration. They must include a specification of the invention accompanied by any drawings required, a patent claim and a summary. The specification must be sufficiently clear to enable a professional to use the invention on its basis. The patent application as a whole will be disclosed 18 months from the date of application, but the name of the invention and those of the applicant and inventor become public knowledge as soon as the application is filed.

Patent database
These are databases maintained by patent offices, open to the public and free of charge. The National Board of Patents and Registration maintains a database on Finnish patents, which you can browse at the Board's website http://www.prh.fi/. International databases can be accessed through the espacenet database, available in Finnish at http://fi.espacenet.com/. In addition, a host of fee-based services are available, acting as portals to patent databases. These services include delphion, Dialog and LexisNexis.

Patentability search
A patentability search is performed upon the filing of a patent application. It clarifies the patentability of an invention by determining whether a solution developed for a technical problem is novel or already known technology elsewhere. Such a search establishes whether the solution has been presented in previously published literature, especially patent publications. It also establishes whether the solution's novel aspects fulfil the patentability criteria. Thus, any patent publications are identified in which corresponding solutions, or those which are heavily reminiscent of the solution, are presented.

PCT, Patent Cooperation Treaty
Through an international patent application, or PCT application, a patent application can be filed in all countries under the PCT system. From the priority date of the original application, this patent granting system gives applicants 30 months to consider filing national applications. As such, this system does not grant global patents, but a ‘family' of national patents. A PCT application can be filed via the National Board of Patents and Registration, WIPO or the European Patent Office.

Preliminary novelty serach
A preliminary novelty search can clarify whether a solution developed for a technical problem is new or already known technology elsewhere. Such an examination establishes whether the solution has been presented in previously published literature, especially patent publications. The examination also clarifies whether its novel aspects fulfil the patentability criteria. Thus, any patent publications are identified in which corresponding solutions, or those in which the solutions are closely reminiscent, are presented. Preliminary examinations are conducted prior to making a patent application. Those performed by the National Board of Patents and Registration are payable. You can also evaluate the novelty of your invention yourself by using patent databases on the Internet.

Priority, priority rights
Upon filing the first patent application for an invention, the applicant has priority rights in obtaining a patent for the invention vis-à-vis all other applicants, for the duration of one year, providing that the invention is prima facie patentable. Priority rights are exercised by filing an application in a certain country, and then in others within a year. Priority is claimed in the ‘foreign' applications on the basis of the initial one. Priority remains valid even if the initial application is withdrawn during the year in question or is discontinued. The priority year begins when the National Board of Patents and Registration or another national patent office issues a ‘priority date' for the patent application.

Product Track
The objective of this service network is to enlist the cooperation of product development experts in the most rapid and trouble-free fashion possible. Existing know-how and competencies within the industry in question are assembled and their exploitation is eased. Thus, clients' ideas and inventions can be formed into marketable products and services. In addition, overlaps in product development advisory services are avoided.

Productisation
The development of an idea or invention into a final marketable product and/or service.

Prototype, specimen
A prototype is not the finished product, but a specimen using which the product's functionality, form, material and colours can be examined. Prototypes can be models representing the visual design, functional models for testing technical functions or simple illustrative models.

Right of use 
Otherwise referred to as a licence, this comprises authorisation by the holder of exclusive rights to e.g. an invention protected under patent, to exploit the invention. In general, compensation is paid for right of use in the form of royalties. Upon the transfer of rights of use, the industrial property rights do not transfer to the licensee, but remain with the licensor.

Royalty
A royalty is a continuous payment made to the party transferring rights of use, i.e. the licensor, in return for rights of use.

Sale of invention, transfer of intellectual property rights
All rights to, and ownership of, sold inventions transfer from the seller to the buyer. After a contract is made, the seller of the invention no longer owns it. This allows the buyer to exploit and develop the invention freely. The sale of an invention is agreed through a bill of sale..

Technical evaluation
Through such an evaluation, the prior art the in area to which the development project belongs is charted, on a global basis. This provides information on the predominant and, in particular, the latest technology within the industry in question, and any observed technical problems and their various solutions. It also generates a preliminary impression of development paths not yet pursued elsewhere, and what part of the technology is already protected by a patent. In Finland, these evaluations are performed by the National Board of Patents and Registration.

Trademark
A trademark is a distinctive mark which differentiates a firm's goods and services from the corresponding offerings of competitors. A trademark is any kind of mark at all which can be represented graphically. It can comprise a picture, one or more words, letters, numbers or the unique appearance of a product or its packaging. A trademark may also be a mark based on a combination of pictures and words, or a sound or slogan. A trademark can be protected through registration with the National Board of Patents and Registration. Such registration confers the applicant with exclusive rights to use of the trademark to designate goods and services. Trademarks give ten years' protection from the registration date. Registration can be renewed for ten years at a time, as many times as the holder wishes.

Utility model
A utility model is a patent-like exclusive right. It provides the holder with the right to prevent the professional exploitation of the invention in question by others. This right is geographically restricted, being valid only in those countries in which the utility model is applied for and granted. In Finland, utility models are granted by the National Board of Patents and Registration. The exclusive right remains valid for a limited period, generally a maximum of 10 years from the date on which the application is filed.

Venture capital investor, venture capital investment
In Finland, venture capital investments are made by private equity houses and private investors i.e. business angels. A venture capital investor chiefly evaluates a company's growth prospects. It aims at a planned exit from the investment rather than becoming a long-term owner. Returns i.e. rises in share value, depend on the investment target's growth and success. They are realised by selling the company or a share in it, e.g. to industrial players, or by listing the company on the stock exchange.

Yrityssuomi.fi (EnterpriseFinland.fi)
This network service informs entrepreneurs and companies of the kind of assistance available from public services for establishing, growing and developing their companies. It is free of charge and aimed at small enterprises and potential entrepreneurs. Gathered on a single site, its information is easy to use, up to date and comprehensive.