of the world. Moreover, said application may under no circumstances be filed 15 years after
the final or intermediate topography of the integrated circuit has been fixed or coded for the
first time, if it has never been worked.
98. Any request for a certificate of layout design (topography) for integrated circuits
which does not meet the provisions of Article 96 above and Section I of Chapter II of Title II
of this Law shall be rejected.
99. The following shall be considered unlawful if performed without the authorization
of the holders of the right in a layout design (topography) for integrated circuits:
(a) the act of reproducing, whether by incorporation in an integrated circuit or
otherwise, a protected layout design (topography) in its entirety or any part thereof, except the
act of reproducing any part that does not comply with the requirement of originality referred
to in Article 91 above;
(b) the act of importing, selling or otherwise distributing for commercial purposes a
protected layout design (topography) or an integrated circuit in which a protected layout
design is incorporated, or an article incorporating such an integrated circuit, only insofar as
this article continues to contain an unlawfully reproduced layout design.
100. The following acts shall not be considered unlawful:
(a) the acts referred to in Article 99(a) above, performed for private purposes or for the
sole purpose of evaluation, analysis, research or teaching;
(b) the creation, on the basis of such evaluation, analysis or research, of a separate
topography which can qualify for protection in accordance with the provisions of this Law;
(c) any of the acts referred to in Article 99 above in respect of an integrated circuit
incorporating an unlawfully reproduced layout design (topography), or of any article
incorporating such an integrated circuit, where the person performing or ordering such acts
did not know and had no reasonable ground to know, when acquiring said integrated circuit or
article incorporating such an integrated circuit, that it incorporated an unlawfully reproduced
layout design. After the time that such person has received sufficient notice that the layout
design has been unlawfully reproduced, that person may perform any of the acts referred to in
respect of the stocks on hand or ordered before such time, but shall be liable to pay the right
holder a sum equivalent to a reasonable royalty as would be payable under a freely negotiated
license in respect of such a layout design.
101. Where no application for a certificate has been filed for a layout design
(topography) for integrated circuits within a period of 15 years starting from the date of its
creation, no exclusive right shall come into being.
102. Certificates of layout designs (topographies) for integrated circuit which are not
original as defined in Article 91 above and which do not meet the conditions provided for in
Article 97 above may be declared invalid by the courts at the request of any interested person.
103. Any interested person may obtain an excerpt from the register recording the
entries made to a register known as the “National Register of Certificates of Layout Designs
(Topographies) for Integrated Circuits” kept by the entity responsible for industrial property.