Patent protection of integrated circuit layout design

The layout design of integrated circuits is essentially a graphic design, but it is not an industrial design and cannot be protected by patent law. Because, from the protection object of patent law, the new technical scheme proposed for products, methods or their improvement requires creativity, novelty and practicality. This is usually difficult for the layout design of integrated circuits. From the procedure of patent acquisition, the patent application approval time is too long and the cost is high, which is not conducive to the popularization and application of technology.

Although the layout design of integrated circuit is a kind of graphic design in form, it is neither an expression of some ideas nor artistic, so it is not among the works and cannot be protected by copyright law. In addition, the layout design of integrated circuits is updated quickly. If the layout-design is protected by copyright law, the copyright protection period will be too long, which is not conducive to the development of integrated circuit industry.

Because the existing patent law and copyright law can not effectively protect the layout-design of integrated circuits, many countries in the world have adopted separate legislation to confirm the exclusive right of layout-design, that is, to protect other intellectual property rights. The United States is the first country to legislate to protect layout-designs. Subsequently, Japan, Sweden, Britain, Germany and other countries also formulated their own layout-design laws.

1989 In May, the World Intellectual Property Organization adopted the Treaty on Intellectual Property of Integrated Circuits. In addition, the Agreement on Intellectual Property Rights stipulates the layout-design of integrated circuits in a special section, and the contracting parties provide protection for the layout-design according to the relevant provisions of the above-mentioned convention.

China's protection of integrated circuit layout design is relatively late. On March 28th, 20001year, the State Council passed the Regulations on the Protection of Layout Design of Integrated Circuits, which came into effect on March 28th, 20001year. According to the Regulations on the Protection of Layout Design of Integrated Circuits, the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Regulations on the Protection of Layout Design of Integrated Circuits are hereby formulated and shall come into force as of 200 1, 1 and1. According to the Regulations of People's Republic of China (PRC) on the Protection of Integrated Circuit Design, the Administrative Law Enforcement Measures for Integrated Circuit Layout Design are formulated, which will come into force on 2001128.