Law Dictionary Definitions

business-to-business e-commerce.Electronic commerce between businesses over the Internet.[Blacks Law 8th]

Business Software Alliance.Copyright. An international trade organization representing leading software and e-commerce developers, formed to educate governments and the public about software issues and to fight software piracy and Internet theft. — Abbr. BSA.[Blacks Law 8th]

business-risk exclusion.See EXCLUSION(3).[Blacks Law 8th]

business-records exception.Evidence. A hearsay exception allowing business records (such as reports or memoranda) to be admitted into evidence if they were prepared in the ordinary course of business. • If there is good reason to doubt a record’s reliability (e.g., the record was prepared in anticipation of litigation), the exception will not apply. Fed. R.…

business record.A report, memorandum, or other record made usu. in the ordinary course of business. • It may be ordered produced as part of discovery in a lawsuit.[Blacks Law 8th]

business-purpose doctrine.Tax. The principle that a transaction must serve a bona fide business purpose (i.e., not just for tax avoidance) to qualify for beneficial tax treatment. [Cases: Internal Revenue  3071, 3315, 3396. C.J.S. Internal Revenue §§ 13–14, 151.][Blacks Law 8th]

business plan.A written proposal explaining a new business or business idea and usu. covering financial, marketing, and operational plans.[Blacks Law 8th]

Business Methods Patent Initiative.A U.S. Patent and Trademark Office program that added a second level to business-method-patent reviews for the purpose of reducing the number of business-method patents issued. • The PTO created the initiative in response to complaints that examiners improperly approved many business-method patents. After an examiner approves the application and before a…

business-method patent.See PATENT(3).[Blacks Law 8th]

business-method exception.Intellectual property. The traditional doctrine that business methods are not protected by intellectual-property laws. • Early caselaw established that “pure methods of doing business” were unpatentable. But in 1998, the Federal Circuit held in State St. Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Fin. Group (149 F.3d 1368) that business methods are not per se…