305 articles
Prior art
Prior art: the body of public knowledge (patents, printed publications, public uses, and sales) existing before a filing date, used to judge patent novelty and inventive step under US, EPO, and PCT law.
Private company limited by shares
Private company limited by shares (Ltd): the dominant UK company form under the Companies Act 2006, with member liability capped at unpaid share amounts, no public share offers, and over 90% of registered companies.
Professional Tax
Professional tax is a state-level Indian tax on employment, profession, trade, or calling under Article 276 of the Constitution, capped at ₹2,500 per person per year, deducted from salary by employers and deductible under Section 16(iii) of the Income-tax Act.
Property tax in the United States
Property tax in the United States is a tax on real and personal property, levied mostly by local governments, which collected $630 billion in 2021.
Prosecution history estoppel
Prosecution history estoppel is a judge-made rule of United States patent law preventing a patent owner from recapturing, through the doctrine of equivalents, subject matter surrendered during patent prosecution.
Public domain
The public domain is creative material not restricted by copyright, either because protection never applied or expired, so anyone may use it without permission or payment.
Public domain in the United States
Public domain in the United States: material free of copyright, including expired-term works (pre-1931 publications; 95-year maximum terms), US government works under 17 USC 105, and dedicated works; shaped by the 1998 CTEA and Eldred v. Ashcroft.
Receivership
Receivership, also called a receiver and manager, is an equitable remedy in which a court appoints a receiver to protect property from waste or mismanagement during litigation.
Regulation D (SEC)
Regulation D is a set of SEC rules, adopted in March 1982, that exempts limited securities offerings, called private placements, from registration, centered on the accredited investor definition and Rules 504 and 506.
Regulatory compliance
Regulatory compliance is an organization's adherence to applicable laws, regulations and supervisory expectations. Also called compliance management or GRC compliance, it spans ISO 37301 systems, risk-based enforcement, DOJ corporate programs, and EU AI Act timelines.
Right-to-work law
Right-to-work laws are U.S. state statutes, authorized by Section 14(b) of the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, that prohibit union security agreements requiring dues payment; 27 states have them, and Michigan repealed its law in 2024.
RIGI (Argentina)
RIGI (Régimen de Incentivo para Grandes Inversiones) is an Argentine investment incentive scheme created in 2024 under President Javier Milei to attract large projects with tax and foreign exchange benefits.
Rita Crundwell
Rita Crundwell, Dixon, Illinois comptroller and treasurer 1983-2012, embezzled about $53.7 million via a secret RSCDA account and fake invoices; sentenced to 235 months, released after Biden's 2024 commutation.
Ron McCallum
Ron McCallum AO, born 1948, is an Australian labor law academic at the University of Sydney and the first totally blind full professor in Australia or New Zealand.
Royalty payment
Royalty payment: a fee paid to an asset's owner for use of or rights to it, usually intangible property such as copyright, patents, trademarks, or know-how; defined in OECD Article 12, set by contract rates, advances, guarantees, audits, and withholding tax rules.
S corporation
S corporation: a U.S. federal tax election under subchapter S letting qualifying domestic corporations with up to 100 shareholders and one class of stock pass income through to shareholders, avoiding double taxation.
SAD scheme
SAD scheme (Schedule A Defendants scheme) is a mass-defendant US IP litigation pattern, named by Eric Goldman, in which rightsowners sue hundreds of mostly Chinese online sellers on a sealed Schedule A, obtain ex parte TRO asset freezes, and extract settlements; mostly trademark claims, concentrated in N.D. Illinois.
Sahara India Pariwar investor fraud case
Sahara India Pariwar investor fraud case: SEBI and Supreme Court proceedings against Sahara group firms SIRECL and SHICL over OFCDs raising over Rs 24,000 crore from three crore investors, Subrata Roy's 2014 arrest, and the CRCS-Sahara refund portal.
Salomon v A Salomon & Co Ltd
Salomon v A Salomon & Co Ltd [1897] AC 22, House of Lords, 16 November 1896: foundational UK company law case establishing separate corporate personality, holding Aron Salomon's one-man boot company distinct from him and his floating-charge debentures valid.
Sarbanes–Oxley Act
Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), P.L. 107-204 of July 30, 2002: US federal law enacted after Enron and WorldCom scandals creating the PCAOB and requiring public-company internal control assessments under Section 404, with auditor attestation for accelerated filers.
Scènes à faire
Scènes à faire, French for "scenes to be done," is a US copyright doctrine under which stock or standard elements of a genre or setting get no copyright protection.
SCO–Linux disputes
SCO–Linux disputes: lawsuits begun in 2003 by The SCO Group (formerly Caldera) claiming Linux contained UNIX code; Novell won the copyright ownership verdict in 2010, and successor Xinuos' revived claims were rejected by the Second Circuit in 2026.
SECURE 2.0 Act
SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, Division T of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Public Law 117-328), is US retirement legislation with over ninety provisions: mandatory automatic enrollment, Roth catch-up rules, RMD age changes, and small business credits.
Securities and Exchange Board of India
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), India's securities market regulator. Constituted 1988 as a non-statutory body, statutory under the SEBI Act, 1992; protects investors, regulates stock exchanges, intermediaries, mutual funds, insider trading, and takeovers from its Bombay head office.
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 78a–78qq) is the U.S. federal statute regulating secondary-market securities trading. It created the SEC (Section 4, five commissioners), empowered periodic corporate reporting, SRO and broker-dealer oversight, and Rule 10b-5 antifraud enforcement, distinct from the 1933 Act's primary-market registration.
Severance package
Severance package: payments and benefits given when employment ends, also called redundancy or termination pay. Covers statutory scales (Australia, Thailand, Ontario), US at-will voluntariness, OWBPA waiver rules, and economic rationale.
Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, also called the POSH Act, is an Indian law protecting women from workplace sexual harassment.
Shareholder
A shareholder, also called a stockholder, is a person or entity that holds shares of stock in a company, giving rights to dividends, information, and voting in shareholder meetings.
Shareholder rights plan
A shareholder rights plan, or poison pill, is a takeover defense issuing one right per share that dilutes any acquirer crossing a trigger threshold, typically 10-20%. Invented by Martin Lipton, first adopted by Household International in 1984, upheld in Moran v. Household International (1985).
Sherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act (Act of July 2, 1890, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1–7) is the first U.S. federal antitrust statute, outlawing restraints of trade and monopolization in interstate and foreign commerce, enforced by DOJ and FTC under the Rule of Reason.