Layout-Designs of Integrated Circuits Act 2000 · Updated to 1 Jan 2006 · Part II · Protection of Layout-Designs
5. Protected layout-design
Feedback & supportA layout-design shall be eligible for protection under this
layout-design
“layout-design” means the three-dimensional disposition, however expressed, of the elements of an integrated circuit and some or all of the interconnections of the integrated circuit or such a three-dimensional disposition prepared for an integrated circuit intended for manufacture;
Act if the layout-design is an original layout-design and the right holder of the layout-design was, at the time the layout-design was created, a qualifying person.
right holder
“right holder” means the person that is to be regarded as the beneficiary of the protection referred to in section 9;
For the purposes of subsection (1), a layout-design shall be original if—
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
Layout-Designs of Integrated Circuits 9
in relation to a layout-design that consists of a combination of elements and interconnections that are commonplace, the combination, taken as a whole, 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 8, regardless of when they were created.
A layout-design shall be deemed not to have been created until it has been fixed in a material form or incorporated into an integrated circuit, whichever is earlier.
material form
“material form”, in relation to a layout-design, includes any form of storage (whether visible or not) from which the layout-design, or a substantial part of the layout-design, can be reproduced;