Layout-Designs of Integrated Circuits Act 1999 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 2 · Protection of Layout-Designs
5. Protected layout-designs
Feedback & supportThis Act protects a layout-design that is owned by a qualified owner and —
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;
is original in the sense that it is the result of its creator’s own intellectual effort and is not commonplace among creators of layout‑designs and manufacturers of integrated circuits at the time of its creation; or
in the case of a layout-design that consists of a combination of elements and interconnections that are commonplace, the combination, taken as a whole, is original in the sense that it is the result of its creator’s own intellectual effort and is not commonplace among creators of layout‑designs and manufacturers of integrated circuits at the time of its creation.
This Act protects all independently created layout-designs referred to in subsection (1), even if they are identical and, subject to section 7, regardless of when they are, on or after 15 February 1999, created.
This Act does not protect a layout‑design that is created before 15 February 1999.
A layout-design is deemed not to have been created until it has been recorded in documentary form or incorporated into an integrated circuit, whichever is earlier.
integrated circuit
“integrated circuit” means a product, in its final form or an intermediate form, in which the elements, at least one of which is an active element, and some or all of the interconnections are integrally formed in and on, or in or on, a piece of material and which is intended to perform an electronic function;