Proprietary

Definition

The term proprietary indicates that a party, or proprietor, exercises private ownership, control or use over an item of property, usually to the exclusion of other parties.

Overview

A party may have interests which are similar to proprietary interests in relation to certain types of information (e.g., for a literary work, or for computer software), which is the subject of certain laws, including copyright, patents or trademarks.

See also

• Exclusive rights
• Proprietary content
• Proprietary information
• Proprietary protocol
• Proprietary software model
• Proprietary standard
• Proprietary viewer