subject: Stuff 101 - Integrated Circuit Topography [print this page] Integrated circuit topography is the way a circuit is designed. As circuits and microchips have gotten smaller the need for advanced layouts and designs has grown. These designs can be so specialized that they are now protected under Canadian law. If you think about it, technology plays a huge role in our lives. From the alarm clock that wakes us up in the morning, to the coffee maker that brews our coffee and to our cars and public transportation that gets us to work, there integrated circuit topography is hard at work. In fact if you are reading this article right now you can bet that integrated circuit topography played a major part in the way your computer was manufactured. Since May 1st, 1993 integrated circuit topography has been protected by Canadian law under the Integrated Circuit Topography Act. The Act was passed in an attempt to protect Canadian innovations both nationally and internationally with the need to regulate the intellectual property of integrated circuit topographies while providing exclusive rights for the creator of the integrated circuit topography. The agency responsible for integrated circuit topographies falls under the responsibility of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office or CIPO. They are also responsible for other types of intellectual property as well, including: 1. trademarks
2. copyrights
3. industrial designs
4. patents In order to have any kind of rights under the Act the owner of an integrated circuit topography is first required to register the integrated circuit. The owner of the integrated circuit topography also has to meet a few requirements before their application will be accepted. Mainly they have to be a Canadian Citizen and the application has to be received by CIPO before the expiry time period, which is no later than two years after the integrated circuit topography's first commercial use. The following is a basic breakdown of the Integrated Circuit Topography Act: The Act provides protection:
1. to owners by providing the exclusive rights:
i. to exclude others from reproducing the integrated circuit topography
ii. to exclude others from manufacturing a product including the integrated circuit topography
iii. to exclude others from importing or commercially exploiting the integrated circuit topography 2. for up to 10 years for a registered integrated circuit topography. However, there are three exceptions to the Integrated Circuit Topography Act: 1. Once the owner has given authorization to another party to use the integrated circuit topography in a product for commercial use the owner no longer has any statutory right to control its use, rental, resale or redistribution. 2. Copying of a protected topography for the purposes of analysis, evaluation, research or teaching is allowed under the Act. 3. Reverse engineering of the integrated circuit topography is also permitted under the Act.
Please note that this article is solely an informational piece on the basic requirements and protections under the Integrated Circuit Topography Act. For specific information it is advised to contact the Canadian Intellectual Property Office or a lawyer specializing in Intellectual Property Rights.
