5  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Proprietary  \Pro*pri"e*ta*ry\,  a.  [L.  proprietarius.] 
  Belonging,  or  pertaining,  to  a  proprietor;  considered  as 
  property;  owned;  as  proprietary  medicine. 
 
  {Proprietary  articles},  manufactured  articles  which  some 
  person  or  persons  have  exclusive  right  to  make  and  sell 
  --U.  S.  Statutes. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Proprietary  \Pro*pri"e*ta*ry\,  n.;  pl  {Proprietaries}.  [L. 
  proprietarius:  cf  F.  propri['e]taire.  See  {Propriety},  and 
  cf  {Proprietor}.] 
  1.  A  proprietor  or  owner;  one  who  has  exclusive  title  to  a 
  thing  one  who  possesses,  or  holds  the  title  to  a  thing 
  in  his  own  right  --Fuller. 
 
  2.  A  body  proprietors,  taken  collectively. 
 
  3.  (Eccl.)  A  monk  who  had  reserved  goods  and  effects  to 
  himself,  notwithstanding  his  renunciation  of  all  at  the 
  time  of  profession. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  proprietary 
  adj  :  protected  by  trademark  or  patent  or  copyright;  made  or 
  produced  or  distributed  by  one  having  exclusive  rights; 
  "`Tylenol'  is  a  proprietary  drug  of  which 
  `acetaminophen'  is  the  generic  form"  [ant:  {nonproprietary}] 
  n  :  an  unincorporated  business  owned  by  a  single  person  who  is 
  responsible  for  its  liabilities  and  entitled  to  its 
  profits  [syn:  {proprietorship}] 
 
  From  Jargon  File  (4.2.3,  23  NOV  2000)  [jargon]: 
 
  proprietary  adj  1.  In  {marketroid}-speak,  superior;  implies  a 
  product  imbued  with  exclusive  magic  by  the  unmatched  brilliance  of 
  the  company's  own  hardware  or  software  designers.  2.  In  the  language 
  of  hackers  and  users,  inferior;  implies  a  product  not  conforming  to 
  open-systems  standards,  and  thus  one  that  puts  the  customer  at  the 
  mercy  of  a  vendor  able  to  gouge  freely  on  service  and  upgrade  charges 
  after  the  initial  sale  has  locked  the  customer  in  Often  in  the  phrase 
  "proprietary  crap".  3.  Synonym  for  closed-source,  e.g.  software  issued 
  in  binary  without  source  and  under  a  restrictive  license. 
 
  Since  the  coining  of  the  term  {open  source},  many  hackers  have 
  made  a  conscious  effort  to  distinguish  between  `proprietary'  and 
  `commercial'  software.  It  is  possible  for  software  to  be  commercial 
  (that  is  intended  to  make  a  profit  for  the  producers)  without  being 
  proprietary.  The  reverse  is  also  possible,  for  example  in  binary-only 
  freeware. 
 
 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  proprietary 
 
  1.  In  {marketroid}-speak,  superior;  implies  a  product  imbued 
  with  exclusive  magic  by  the  unmatched  brilliance  of  the 
  company's  own  hardware  or  software  designers. 
 
  2.  In  the  language  of  hackers  and  users,  inferior;  implies  a 
  product  not  conforming  to  {open-systems}  {standard}s,  and  thus 
  one  that  puts  the  customer  at  the  mercy  of  a  vendor  who  can 
  inflate  service  and  upgrade  charges  after  the  initial  sale  has 
  locked  the  customer  in 
 
  [{Jargon  File}] 
 
 

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