COMMONLY USED ACRONYMS
ABA  - American Bar Association
ABAPI  - Brazilian Association of Industrial Property Agents
ABPI  - Brazilian Association of Industrial Property
ACP  - Administrative Challenge Panel
ACPAA  - All-China Patent Agents Association
ACPI  - Association des Conseils en Propriété Industrielle (French Association of FICPI)
ADR  - Alternative Dispute Resolution
AGESORPI  - Association of Spanish Attorneys before International Industrial and Intellectual Property Organisations
AIPLA  - American Intellectual Property Law Association
AIPO  - Australian Intellectual Property Office
AIPPI  - International Association for the Protection of Industrial Property
APNIC  - Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre
APAA  - Asian Patent Attorneys Association
ARIN  - American Registry for Internet Numbers
ASEAN-IP  - ASEAN Intellectual Property Association
ASIPI  - Asociación Interamericana de la Propiedad Intelectual
BEST  - Bringing Search and Examination Together (an EPO initiative)
BusinessEurope  = new name of 'UNICE, the voice of business in Europe'
CEIPI  - Le Centre d'Etude Internationales de la Propriété Industrielle
CEO  - Chief Executive Officer
CET  (= FICPI specific acronym) - Study & Works Commission
CIPA  - Chartered Institute of Patent Agents (UK)
CNCPI  - Compagnie Nationale des Conseils en Propriété Industrielle (French profession)
Collegio  - Collegio Italiano dei Consulenti in Proprietà Industriale (Italian Association of FICPI)
CPA  - Continued Prosecution Application
CPC  - Community Patent Convention
CPI  - Conseil en Propriété Industrielle
CTM  - Community Trade Mark
CTMR  - Community Trade Mark Registration
DGXV  - Directorate General XV
DNS  - Domain Name System
EBA  - Enlarged Board of Appeal (Instance within the EPO giving opinions on points of law)
EC  - European Community
ECJ  - European Court of Justice
EP  - European Patent
EPC  - European Patent Convention
epi  - Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office
EPO  - European Patent Office
EU  - European Union
EUCOF  (= FICPI specific acronym) - European Union Members Commission of FICPI
Euro-SEAD  (= FICPI specific acronym) - European version of the SEAD training course (see below), a FICPI training initiative
EXCO  (= FICPI specific acronym) - Executive Committee (N.B. often used in the sense of "Executive Committee Meeting")
GATT  - General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
gTLDs  - Generic Top Level Domains
IAB  - Internet Architecture Board
IANA  - Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
ICC  - International Chamber of Commerce
IDS  - Information Disclosure Statement
IGC  - Inter Governmental Conference (relating to inter alia genetic resources and benefit sharing)
INPI  - stands for both the French patent office and the Portuguese one. French: Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle; Portuguese: Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial
IP  - Intellectual Property
IP Australia  - Australian Intellectual Property Organisation, encompassing the Australian Patent Office, Trade Marks Office and Designs Office
IPO  - Industry group representing U.S. business
IPONZ  - former NZ Patent Office
IPTA  - Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia
JFBA  - Japan Federation of Bar Associations
JIPA  - Japan Intellectual Property Association
JIPO  - Japanese Intellectual Property Owners
JPO  - Japanese Patent Office
JPAA  - Japanese Patent Attorneys Association
KIPO  - Korean Intellectual Property Office
KPAA  - Korean Patent Attorneys Association
MIPEX  (= FICPI specific acronym) - Message Based Industrial Property Information Exchange
MoU  - Memorandum of Understanding
MSBA  - Meeting between members of SACEPO and the Boards of Appeal of the EPO
NAFTA  - North American Free Trade Agreement
NDR  - Board for Domain Name Rules (Sweden)
NEWCO  - short for: New Company
NGOs  - Non-governmental Organisations
OAMI  - The Spanish acronym for OHIM (Oficina de Armonización del mercado interior)
OHIM  - The Office for Harmonisation of the Internal Market
OECD  - Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
PAK  - Patentanwaltskammer, also known as 'Kammer' (German Association of FICPI)
PCT  - Patent Cooperation Treaty
PLT  - Patent Law Treaty
PTO  - Patent and Trade Mark Office
RIPE  - Réseaux Internet Proficer Européens
SACEPO  - Standing Advisory Committee before the European Patent Office
SCP  - Standing Committee on Patent Law (WIPO)
SEAD  - South East Asian Drafting Training Course (a FICPI training initiative)
SMEs  - Small and medium size enterprises
SPC  - Supplementary Protection Certificate
SPLAT  - The same as SPLT but less frequently used
SPLT  - Substantive Patent Law Treaty
SPOF  - Swedish Association of Patent Attorneys (Swedish Association of FICPI)
SPTO  - Spanish Patent and Trademark Office
TEC  (= FICPI specific acronym) - Teaching and Education Commission of FICPI
TLD  - Top Level Domain
ccTLD  - Country Code Top Level Domain
gTLD  - Generic Top Level Domain
TLT  - Trademark Law Treaty
TRIPS  - Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
UKIPO  - UK Intellectual Property Office (previously 'The Patent Office')
UNICE  - renamed "BusinessEurope" - see above
UNION  - UNION of European Practioners in Industrial Property
UPOV  - International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants
USPTO  - United States Patent and Trade Mark Office
VSP  - Verband Schweizerischer Patent- und Markenanwälte (or Association Suisse des Conseils en Propriété Industrielle, Swiss Association of FICPI)
WIPO  - World Intellectual Property Organization
WTO  - World Trade Organisation
WWW  - World Wide Web