Legal Dictionary of Pakistan
Quick lookup for English, Urdu, and Latin legal terms used in Pakistani jurisprudence.
Public Utility Holding Company Act
A federal law enacted in 1935 to protect investors and consumers from the economic disadvantages produced by the small number of holding companies that owned most of the nation's utilities. ( The Act also sought to protect the public from deceptive security advertising. 15 USCA §§ 79 et seq. - Abbr. PUHCA.
Utility
1. The quality of serving some function that benefits society. 2. Patents. Capacity to perform a function or attain a result claimed for protection as intellectual property. ( In patent law, utility is one of the three basic requirements of patentability, the others being nonobviousness and novelty. 3. A business enterprise that performs essential public service and that is subject to governmental regulation.
danger-utility test
See RISK-UTILITY TEST.
municipal utility district
A publicly owned corporation, or a political subdivision, that provides the public with a service or services, such as water, electricity, gas, transportation, or telecommunications. - Abbr. MUD. - Also termed public utility district. school district See SCHOOL DISTRICT.
public utility
A company that provides necessary services to the public, such as telephones, electricity, and water. ( Most utilities operate as monopolies but are subject to governmental regulation.
public utility district
See municipal utility district under DISTRICT.
risk-utility test
A method of imposing product liability on a manufacturer if the evidence shows that a reasonable person would conclude that the benefits of a product's particular design versus the feasibility of an alternative safer design did not outweigh the dangers inherent in the original design. - Also termed danger-utility test; risk-benefit test. Cf. CONSUMER-CONTEMPLATION TEST.
utility fund
A mutual fund that invests only in public-utility securities.
utility patent
A patent granted for one of the following types of inventions: a process, a machine, a manufacture, or a composition of matter (such as a new chemical). ( Utility patents are the most commonly issued patents. 35 USCA § 101.