Law No. 2001-20 of February 6, 2001, on the Protection of the Layout-designs of Integrated Circuits 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Articles Chapter I: Chapter II: Chapter III: Chapter IV: Chapter V: Chapter VI: Chapter VII: General Provisions ........................................................ Deposit Procedures ....................................................... Rights Attached to the Deposit...................................... Transfer and Loss of Rights .......................................... Appeals ......................................................................... Penalties ........................................................................ Border Measures ........................................................... 1-6 7 -16 17 - 19 20 - 26 27 - 33 34 - 38 39 - 48 On behalf of the people, The Chamber of Deputies having adopted it, The President of the Republic enacts the law whose content is as follows: Chapter I General Provisions 1. The aim of this Law shall be to establish the rules relating to the protection of the layout-designs of integrated circuits. 2. “Integrated circuit” means a product which, in its final or an intermediate form, is intended to perform an electronic function and in which the elements, at least one of which is an active component, and all or part of the interconnections are an integral part of the body or surface of a piece of material. “Layout-design of integrated circuits” or “topography” means the three-dimensional arrangement —whatever its expression— of the elements, at least one of which is an active component, and all or part of the interconnections of an integrated circuit or such a three-dimensional arrangement which is prepared for an integrated circuit intended to be manufactured; “Owner” means the natural or legal person who shall be regarded as a beneficiary of the protection referred to in Article 5 of this Law. 3. Layout-designs of integrated circuits may be protected under this Law insofar as they are the result of the intellectual effort of their creators and are not common, at the time of their creation, in the integrated circuits’ sector. Where the layout-design consists of elements common in the integrated circuits’ sector, it shall be protected only insofar as the combination of these elements, taken as a whole, meets the requirements of the first sub-paragraph of this article. page 1/11