Collection of Laws for Electronic Access YH MAURITIUS “right holder” means the person who is to be regarded as the beneficiary of the protection referred to in section 5; “Tribunal” means the Tribunal set up under section 9 of the Patents, Industrial Designs and Trademarks Act 2002; Part II Nature and Extent of Protection Protection 3.—(1) Subject to subsection (2), registration for protection under this Act may be— (a) obtained for layout-designs of integrated circuits where they are original within the meaning of section 4; (b) applied for only where— (i) the layout-design has not yet been commercially exploited; or (ii) has been commercially exploited for not more than 2 years anywhere in the world. (2) No protection under this Act shall be available for any layout-design which has been commercially exploited anywhere in the world for more than 2 years prior to the entry into force of this Act. Originality 4.—(1) A layout-design shall be considered to be original where 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) Where a layout design consists of a combination of its elements and inter-connections that are commonplace, it shall be protected only where the combination taken as a whole is original within the meaning of subsection (1). Right to Protection 5.—(1) The right to layout-design protection shall belong to the creator of the layout-design and may be assigned or transferred by succession. (2) Where several persons have jointly created a layout-design, the right to layout-design protection shall belong to them jointly. (3) Where the layout-design has been created in execution of a commission or an employment contract, the right to the layout-design protection shall, in the absence of any express provisions to the contrary, belong to the person who commissioned the work or to the employer. MU004EN Integrated Circuits, Act, 08/08/2002, No. 24 page 3/10