An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) most commonly refers to a company that designs or formulates a product and contracts a manufacturer (typically, a contract manufacturer or CM) to manufacture the product (typically called an OEM product), which the OEM then either brands as its own or incorporates into its own branded product. OEM nomenclature is confusing because parties sometimes use the term OEM to refer to the CM and because it is the CM, not the OEM, that is typically the OEM product's "original manufacturer."