Exclusive rights for chip circuit layout designs

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1. The law defines what a semiconductor product is, what its topography is (the layout of the circuit's layers) and what commercial exploitation means: selling, renting, leasing or otherwise distributing the product, or offering it for those purposes.
2. Topographies are protected with exclusive rights if they result from their creator's intellectual effort and are not commonplace in the semiconductor industry. The right belongs to whoever creates the topography, with special rules for employees and commissioned work, and is recognized for people from the European Community and their successors in title.
3. To obtain the exclusive rights, the topography must be registered with the Industrial Property Registry, either before commercial exploitation starts or within a maximum of two years from the start of that exploitation. Deposited material can be kept secret, and transfers of rights must be registered to affect third parties in good faith.
4. The holder can authorize or prohibit reproduction of the topography and its commercial exploitation or importation. There are exceptions: private non-commercial use, analysis, evaluation or teaching, and acts on products already marketed in a member state by the holder. Protection covers only the topography itself, not the concepts or techniques it incorporates.
5. The rights can be subject to compulsory licenses for public interest reasons and last ten years from the first commercial exploitation or from the registration application. Against violators, the holder can bring the civil actions of the Patent Law and, in cases of fraudulent copying before registration, unfair competition actions.
6. Products made with protected topographies may display a capital T inside a circle as notice of protection. All of this applies without prejudice to rights recognized by patent and utility model laws.

Who it affects

• Creators of semiconductor product topographies: They get exclusive rights over their designs if they register them, so they can authorize or prohibit copying and exploitation.
• Employees and companies: Topographies created by an employee are governed by the employee inventions rules of the Patent Law.
• Electronics, automotive and other industries using semiconductors: They cannot copy or commercially exploit protected topographies, except for the provided exceptions.
• Good-faith buyers of semiconductor products: They can exploit the purchased product without knowing it was protected, though they may later owe the holder reasonable compensation.
• Holders whose rights are violated: They can go to court using the civil actions of the Patent Law or unfair competition claims.

Words worth knowing

Topografía (topography)

The series of images representing the three-dimensional structure of the layers that make up an integrated circuit.

Producto semiconductor (semiconductor product)

A product made of a substrate with semiconductor material plus layers of other materials, intended to perform an electronic function.

Causahabiente (successor in title)

A person who inherits or receives another person's rights, for example through purchase or inheritance.

Licencia obligatoria (compulsory license)

A government-imposed authorization allowing someone to use an exclusive right without the holder's consent, for public interest reasons.

Competencia desleal (unfair competition)

Business conduct contrary to good faith that harms competitors, such as copying someone else's work.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries