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The FindLaw Legal Dictionary -- free access to over 8260 definitions of legal terms. Search for a definition or browse our legal glossaries.

term:

Proprietary

proprietary n

pl: -tar·ies
1 : something that is used, produced, or marketed under exclusive legal right of the inventor or maker
;specif
: a drug (as a patent medicine) that is protected by secrecy, patent, or copyright against free competition as to name, product, composition, or process of manufacture
2 : a business secretly owned by and run as a cover for an intelligence operation
adj 1 a : held as property of a private owner
b : of, relating to, or characteristic of a proprietor [ rights]
2 : used, made, or marketed by one having the exclusive legal right [a process]
3 : privately owned and managed and run as a profit-making organization [a insurer] [a clinic]
4 : of or relating to the acts of a municipality which profit or benefit the municipality and for which it is answerable in negligence



Source: Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law ©1996. Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. Published under license with Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.

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