s 5 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.