Layout designs of integrated circuits are protected under a sui generis intellectual property regime, as they do not fall within the scope of industrial design or patent protection.
In general, layout designs of integrated circuits are not considered to be industrial designs, since they do not determine the external appearance of integrated circuits but rather the physical location, within the integrated circuit, of each element with an electronic function.
Moreover, layout designs of integrated circuits are normally not patentable inventions, because making them usually does not involve an inventive step, although it does require a great deal of work by an expert. The subject matter of layout design protection does not extend to the inventive nature or function of a product or a process of making a product, but it does cover the original designs of a three-dimensional disposition, which is the result of an intellectual effort.
Copyright protection may also be unsuitable where domestic law excludes layout designs from its ambit or where copyright principles are considered too broad to address their technical and functional character. Given that SIC layout designs are largely dictated by engineering requirements and frequently involve arranging standard components, they require a more specialised standard of distinctiveness than that provided under conventional copyright law.
In order to effectively protect intellectual property with respect to integrated circuits, different aspects of the integrated circuits can be protected by different types of intellectual property rights in a complementary manner.
The intellectual property regime relating to integrated circuits operates in a complementary manner, enabling the protection of different technological aspects through appropriate and distinct forms of intellectual property rights.
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