Layout-Designs of Integrated Circuits Act 1999 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 4 · Dealings with a Layout-Design Right
19. Prospective ownership of layout-design
Feedback & supportWhere, by an agreement made in relation to a future right in a layout‑design that is signed by or on behalf of the person who would be the owner of the right on its coming into existence, the person purports to assign the future right in the layout‑design, wholly or partially, to an assignee, the right, on coming into existence, vests in the assignee or the assignee’s successor in title.
layout-design
“layout-design” means the 3-dimensional disposition, however expressed, of the elements of an integrated circuit (at least one of which is an active element), and of some or all of the interconnections of an integrated circuit, or such a 3‑dimensional disposition prepared for an integrated circuit intended for manufacture;
Where, at the time when a layout-design right comes into existence, the person who would be entitled to the right is dead, the right devolves as if, immediately before the person’s death, the person had been the owner of the right.
A licence granted in respect of a future layout‑design right by a prospective qualified owner binds each successor in title to his or her interest (or prospective interest) in the right, except a purchaser in good faith for value without notice (actual or constructive) of the licence and a person who derives title from the purchaser.
qualified owner
“qualified owner” means —(a)a qualified person who, under section 6(1), is the owner of a layout‑design; or(b)a person who, under section 6(1), is the owner of a layout‑design which was not commercially exploited anywhere else in the world before it was commercially exploited in Singapore or in a qualifying country,and includes a person, whether or not a qualified person, who is a successor in title to a qualified owner of the layout‑design;