On Topographies of Integrated Circuits

LAW OF GEORGIA

ON TOPOGRAPHIES OF INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

Article 1 - Scope of the Law

This Law regulates property and personal non-property relations arising in connection with the registration, use and legal protection of topographies of integrated circuits as objects of intellectual property.

Article 2 - Definition of terms used in the Law

The terms used in this Law have the following meanings:

a) integrated circuit (‘IC’) - a product of complete or intermediate form intended to perform an electronic function, whose elements, at least one of them being active, and some or all of the interconnections between them are integrally formed within the volume of the product material and/or on the product’s surface;

b) topography of an integrated circuit (‘topography’) – a three-dimensional layout of IC elements, at least one of them being active, and some or all of the interconnections between them represented in a certain form, or a three-dimensional layout prepared for the production of an IC;

c) certificate for a topography (‘certificate’) - a document registered in accordance with this Law, issued in the name of a topography owner and confirming his/her exclusive rights;

d) application - a set of documents necessary for the registration of a topography that are drafted in accordance with the established requirements;

e) Sakpatenti – the National Intellectual Property Center of Georgia, a legal entity under public law that ensures the legal protection of the rights of natural and legal persons in the field of intellectual property protection;

f) Chamber of Appeals – a body within Sakpatenti that reviews disputes arising in connection with the acquisition of rights to objects of intellectual property.

Article 3 - Arising of exclusive rights

1. An exclusive right to a topography shall arise through the registration of the topography with Sakpatenti.

2. A certificate shall be issued in the name of the owner of a registered topography.

Article 4 - Validity of exclusive rights

The validity of an exclusive right to a topography shall be 10 years from the date of registration of the topography with Sakpatenti.

Article 5 - Originality of a topography

1. An original topography shall be registered in accordance with this Law.

2. A topography shall be considered to be original if it has been created as a result of intellectual and creative work and was universally not known up to the the date of its creation.

3. A topography consisting of elements that were known by the date of its creation shall be considered to be original if it is a result of intellectual and creative work and was not known in whole.

4. A topography shall be considered to be original unless the contrary is proved.

5. The use of a topography by an author of the topography (or another person who had the right to obtain the certificate by the date when the application was filed), or by a third person to whom the topography became available from the author directly or indirectly, shall not affect the originality of the topography within two years before the application is filed. In other cases, a topography shall not be considered to be original.

Article 6 - Authors (co-authors) of a topography

1. A natural person, as a result of whose intellectual and creative work a topography was created, shall be considered as the author of the topography (‘author’).

2. If a topography is created as a result of the joint creative work of several natural persons, each of them shall be considered as co-authors.

3. An author may require to have his/her name indicated in the certificate.

Article 7 - Right to obtain a certificate

1. An author or his/her legal successor has the right to obtain a certificate.

2. All the authors jointly, or any of them in the case of refusal by the other authors to obtain a certificate, may obtain a certificate for a topography created as a result of the creative work of several persons.

3. The right to obtain a certificate for a topography designed in the course of official duties or under a special assignment belongs to an employer, unless otherwise provided for by a contract between the employer and the worker.

4. If the right to obtain a certificate belongs to an employer, a worker may, on the basis of mutual agreement, require additional proportional remuneration from the employer.

5. If a topography is created on the basis of a state order, or in the course of the performance of work provided for by a contract between entities, the right to obtain a certificate shall be defined by the condition of the order or the contract, respectively.

Article 8 - Scope of exclusive rights and their infringement

1. A topography owner has an exclusive right to use the topography at his/her own discretion or prohibit its use. In addition, an exclusive right does not apply to any idea, technique, system, technology or coded information of the implementation of a topography or an IC created on its basis.

2. Performing the following acts without permission shall be considered an infringement of an exclusive right to a topography:

a) copying a topography in full or part (except for the part which is not original) for the creation of an IC on its basis or for other purposes;

b) using, importing, offering for sale, selling, or otherwise putting into economic circulation a topography or an IC created on its basis.

Article 9 - Warning marking

A topography owner may place a special warning on an IC or a product containing an IC, which shall include the following:

a) the letter ‘T’ in a circle;

b) the date of registration of the topography;

c) the name of the topography owner.

Article 10 - Usage that is not considered an infringement of exclusive rights

1. The following shall not be considered an infringement of exclusive rights to a topography:

a) the use of a topography, an IC created on its basis or a product containing an IC for personal purposes without gaining any profit, as well as for the purposes of analysis, research or teaching;

b) the further dissemination of an IC or a product containing such IC, created on the basis of a topography distributed by the topography owner or with his/her consent;

c) any action in relation to an IC created on the basis of a topography reproduced without permission, or a product containing such IC, if the person did not know at the time of performing such action and could not have known at the time of purchasing the IC or the product containing the IC, because of certain circumstances, about the topography reproduced without permission. The said person may, after receiving a justified notification on the use of the topography without permission, perform any action in relation to stock on hand or ordered products. In addition, he/she shall pay to the topography owner a reasonable remuneration that would have been paid in the case of the voluntary obtaining of a licence for the use of such a topography.

2. Performing the actions referred to in Article 8(2) of this Law shall not be considered an infringement of exclusive rights to a topography in the following cases:

a) using an identical original topography designed independently before the topography already registered in the Official Bulletin by another person is published;

b) creating an improved topography by another person on the basis of studying the known topography, if a newly created topography meets the requirements of originality.

Article 11 - Application and submitting an application for review

1. An application shall be filed with Sakpatenti directly by an author or his/her legal successor (‘applicant’), or their representative.

2. Foreign persons or their representatives shall conduct relations with Sakpatenti in accordance with Article 65 of the Patent Law of Georgia.

3. An application shall refer to one topography only.

4. An application shall contain:

a) an application for the registration of a topography drawn up in accordance with an established procedure, which shall specify a full name (title), an address and a correspondence address of the applicant, or a full name and an address of the representative, if an application is filed by a representative;

b) materials that fully represent a topography, including an abstract;

c) a document confirming the payment of a fee for the examination of the formal requirements for an application;

d) a power of attorney issued by the applicant to his/her representative, if an application is filed by a representative.

5. An application shall be considered as submitted to Sakpatenti from the day when an application for the registration of a topography and materials that fully represent the topography, including an abstract, are filed.

Article 12 - Reviewing and publishing applications, and issuing certificate s

1. Sakpatenti shall conduct the examination of formal requirements for an application, after which it shall make a relevant decision on the issuance of a certificate.

2. Sakpatenti shall confirm the date of filing an application in the case of the payment of the fee for the examination of formal requirements.

3. If it is confirmed that the application complies with the examination of formal requirements, Sakpatenti shall make a decision to register the topography.

4. After a positive decision on the registration of a topography has been made, if the established fee has been paid, Sakpatenti shall register the topography in the Registry of Topographies of Integrated Circuits, issue a certificate and publish the data in the Official Bulletin of Sakpatenti.

5. An applicant may, at the request of Sakpatenti or on his/her own initiative, complete, verify and amend the materials of an application before the data are published.

6. Sakpatenti may, during the review of an application, request the applicant to submit additional materials and make changes in the application, without which the application cannot be reviewed.

7. Procedures related to the registration and examination of applications shall be defined under the procedure established by legislation.

Article 13 - Fees

1. The examinations of formal requirements for applications, the registration of topographies, the issuance of certificates, the publication of data, the maintenance of the validity of a topography for one year and other legally significant acts shall be subject to the payment of fees. The amount of fees and the conditions for the payment of fees shall be defined under the procedure established by legislation.

2. Fees may be revised taking into consideration international norms, changes in the national currency rate and inflation.

Article 14 - Transferring rights

1. A topography owner may transfer his/her exclusive right to a topography.

2. A topography owner may issue a licence to another person for the use of a topography. A licence shall be issued and registered in accordance with Article 59 and Article 62 of the Patent Law of Georgia.

3. A compulsory licence for the use of a topography may be issued only if the use of the topography is necessitated by state non-commercial interests, or is conditioned by a judicial or administrative act aimed at preventing unfair competition.

Article 15 - Disputes

1. A topography owner or an interested person may appeal against the decision of Sakpatenti or the Chamber of Appeals in accordance with Article 68 and Article 69 of the Patent Law of Georgia.

2. If there is a dispute related to the infringement of exclusive rights, a topography owner may request:

a) the termination of the actions that infringe his/her rights or create a threat of their infringement;

b) compensation for damage caused, including lost profits;

c) the seizure or destruction of the IC created on the basis of a topography used for commercial purposes.

Article 16 - Exercise of rights granted under the Law

Natural and legal persons of foreign countries shall exercise the rights provided for by this Law in accordance with treaties and international agreements or on the basis of the principle of reciprocity.

Article 17 - Entry into force of the Law

This Law shall enter into force on 1 September 1999.

President of Georgia                                                                                                E. Shevardnadze

Tbilisi

22 June 1999

No 2110-II ს