QuestionsQuestions (Republic Act No. 9150)
An Integrated Circuit is a product, in its final or intermediate form, in which the elements (at least one active) and some or all interconnections are integrally formed in and/or on a piece of material, intended to perform an electronic function.
Layout-Design is synonymous with “Topography” and means the three-dimensional disposition, however expressed, of the elements (at least one active) and some or all interconnections of an integrated circuit, or such disposition prepared for manufacture.
Only layout-designs that are original are protected. A layout-design is original if it results from the creator’s own intellectual effort and is not commonplace among creators/manufacturers at the time of creation.
A layout-design consisting of a combination of commonplace elements/interconnections is protected only if the combination, taken as a whole, is original.
Only industrial designs that are new or ornamental benefit from protection; industrial designs dictated essentially by technical/functional considerations to obtain a technical result, or contrary to public order/health/morals, are not protected.
It must contain: (a) a request for registration; (b) information identifying the applicant; (c) the kind of article of manufacture/handicraft to which it is applied; (d) drawings/photographs/adequate graphic representation clearly and fully disclosing the features claimed; and (e) the name/address of the creator or, if applicant is not the creator, a statement indicating the origin of the right.
The application may be accompanied by a specimen of the article embodying the layout-design; it is also subject to the payment of the prescribed fee.
The Office accords the filing date as the date of receipt of the application containing indications allowing identity of the applicant to be established and a representation (or pictorial representation) of the article embodying the layout-design.
If the requirements are not complied within the prescribed period, the application is considered withdrawn.
It examines whether the industrial design or layout-design complies with the definitions (Sec. 112) and substantive conditions for protection (Sec. 113).
Where the Office finds that the conditions referred to in Section 113 are fulfilled, it orders registration and issues a certificate; otherwise it refuses the application.
It is valid for ten (10) years without renewal, counted from the commencement of protection accorded to the layout-design.
Protection commences on the date of the first commercial exploitation anywhere in the world by or with the consent of the right holder—provided the application is filed with the IPO within two (2) years from that date.
It commences on the filing date accorded to the application.
The owner may (1) reproduce the registered layout-design in its entirety or any part thereof, except reproducing any part not meeting originality requirements; and (2) sell or otherwise distribute for commercial purposes the registered layout-design, an article, or an integrated circuit in which the registered layout-design is incorporated.
No right to prevent certain third-party acts, including: private purposes/evaluation/analysis/research/teaching; acts involving an original layout-design created on the basis of evaluation/analysis; acts concerning layouts/integrated circuits already put on the market by or with consent; acts by an acquirer who did not know and had no reasonable ground to know the layout was unlawfully reproduced (subject to notice/royalty for future acts limited to stock/orders before notice); and acts regarding an identical layout-design independently created by a third party.
An interested person may petition cancellation on grounds that: (i) the layout-design is not protectable under the Act; (ii) the right holder is not entitled to protection; or (iii) the application was not filed within two (2) years from its first commercial exploitation anywhere in the world. Cancellation of only part is allowed if grounds apply only to part.
It applies to layout-designs of integrated circuits commercially exploited anywhere in the world from and after January 1998, provided they meet the conditions for protection under the Act.