Protected layout-designs
5.—(1) This Act protects a layout-design that is owned by a qualified owner and —(a)
is original in the sense that 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
(b)
in the case of a layout-design that consists of a combination of elements and interconnections that are commonplace, the combination, taken as a whole, is original in the sense that 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.
(2) This Act protects all independently created layout-designs referred to in subsection (1), even if they are identical and, subject to section 7, regardless of when they are, on or after 15 February 1999, created.
(3) This Act does not protect a layout‑design that is created before 15 February 1999.
(4) A layout-design is deemed not to have been created until it has been recorded in documentary form or incorporated into an integrated circuit, whichever is earlier.
Ownership of layout-design
6.—(1) Subject to any agreement to the contrary, the owner of a layout‑design is determined as follows:(a)
where the layout-design is not created pursuant to a commission or in the course of employment — the creator of a layout‑design is the owner;
(b)
where the layout-design is created pursuant to a commission — the person who commissioned the layout‑design is the owner; and
(c)
where the layout-design is not created pursuant to a commission but is created by an employee in the course of his or her employment — the employer is the owner.
(2) A qualified person can be a qualified owner even if the qualified person shares ownership with a person who is not a qualified person.
(3) Where a layout-design is owned by more than one person, references in the Act to the owner are to all the owners and references in the Act to the qualified owner are to all the qualified owners so that in particular, any requirement of the consent of a qualified owner requires the consent of all the qualified owners.
Duration of protection
7. A layout-design ceases to be a protected layout‑design —(a)
if it is first commercially exploited within 5 calendar years after the calendar year in which it was created, at the end of the 10th calendar year after the calendar year in which it was first commercially exploited;
(b)
in any other case, at the end of the period of 15 calendar years after the calendar year in which it was created.
