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THE SEMICONDUCTOR INTEGRATED
CIRCUITS LAYOUT-DESIGN ACT, 2000
India is known for its Software supremacy in the
world but slowly unnoticed revolution is transcending that might also
make a mark in International market like Software it is welcome trend
that India's capability in Hardware designing is fast increasing &
the country is poised to take a giant leap in hardware designing like in
Software. Hence the importance of IPR protection is fast
increasing. Recently under pressure of the lobby groups of US a
international treaty was signed to protect the IPR in topology of
Integrated circuits.
India enacted a Law called
THE SEMICONDUCTOR
INTEGRATED CIRCUITS LAYOUT-DESIGN ACT, 2000 This Act mainly protects
protection of Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout Designs
"layout-design" is defined in the Act as layout of transistors and other
circuitry elements and includes lead wires connecting such elements and
expressed in any manner in a semiconductor integrated circuit;
Semiconductor integrated circuit means a product
having transistors and other circuitry elements which are inseparably
formed on a semiconducting material or an insulating material or inside
the semiconductor material and designed to perform an electronic
circuitry function;
It is worth mentioning that only the layout-design -
which essentially is the floor planning of the integrated circuits can
be registered under the SICLD Act 2000 and the other information like
any idea, procedure, process, system, programme stored in the integrated
circuit, method of operation etc. cannot be protected under the
Act.
The protection is offered to only the layout-designs
that are original or inherently distinctive
from other layout-designs and have not been commercially exploited
anywhere in a convention country for more than two years
(section 7 of the Act) can be registered under the Act. Word
commercially exploited means that for not more than two years
from the date on which an application for its registration has been
filed either in India or in a convention country shall be treated as not
having been commercially exploited for the purposes of this Act. A
layout-design shall be considered to be original if it is the result of
its creator's own intellectual efforts and is not commonly known to the
creators of layout-designs and manufacturers of semiconductor integrated
circuits at the time of its creation:
Provided that a layout-design consisting of such
combination of elements and interconnections that are commonly
known among creators of layout-designs and manufacturers of
semiconductor integrated circuits shall be considered as original
if such combination taken as a whole is the result of its
creator's own intellectual efforts.
Where an original layout-design has been created in
execution of a commission or a contract of employment, the right of
registration to such layout-design under this Act shall belong, in the
absence of any contractual provision to the contrary, to the person who
commissioned the work or to the employer. A important feature is that a
layout-design consisting of such combination of elements and
interconnections that are commonly known among creators of
layout-designs and manufacturers of semiconductor integrated circuits
shall be considered as original if such combination taken as a whole is
the result of its creator's own intellectual efforts.
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