Topographies of Semiconductor Products

– Intellectual Property Rights Law No. 82 of June 2, 2002, and Implementing Regulations of August 17, 2003.

Filing

Definition: the term integrated circuit means any product, in its final or intermediate form, where the elements therein, at least one of which is an active element, and some or all of the inter-connections are integrally formed in and/or on a piece of insulating material and which is intended to perform with some or all the connections an electronic function. The term layout design means any three-dimensional disposition prepared for an integrated circuit intended for manufacture.

Novelty: if the layout design results from an intellectual effort exerted by the creator thereof and is not among the general information known by those skilled in the subject industrial art. The layout design shall be deemed novel if the coupling and connecting of the components therein are new in essence in spite of the fact that the components thereof may fall within the general information known to those skilled in the subject industrial art.

Filing Office: Egyptian Patent Office.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. Legalized power of attorney, may be filed later on;
2. Documents for identification or illustration of the topography (drawings or photos of the layout or the mask);
3. A sample of each integrated circuit, which has been commercially exploited;
4. The information indicating the electronic function of such design;
5. Legalized Certificate of Incorporation if the applicant is a corporation.

Duration: ten years from the application date in Egypt or from the date of the first commercial use in Egypt or abroad. The protection period shall terminate, in any case, after the lapse of fifteen years calculated from the date of preparing the design.