Semiconductor Protection Act

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Basic data
Title: Law on the protection of the topographies of microelectronic semiconductor products
Short title: Semiconductor Protection Act
Abbreviation: HalblSchG
Type: Federal law
Scope: Federal Republic of Germany
Legal matter: Intellectual Property
References : 426-1
Issued on: October 22, 1987
( BGBl. I p. 2294 )
Entry into force on: November 1, 1987
Last change by: Art. 12 G of July 17, 2017
( Federal Law Gazette I p. 2541, 2544 )
Effective date of the
last change: 		May 25, 2018
(Art. 31 G of July 17, 2017)
GESTA : G042
Please note the note on the applicable legal version.

According to the law on the protection of the topographies of microelectronic semiconductor products (Semiconductor Protection Act - HalblSchG) , the three-dimensional structures (topographies) of semiconductor products are protected in Germany ( semiconductor protection law ) .

Requirements and scope of protection

Topographies worthy of protection must have "individual character", i. That is, the production must be based on intellectual work and must not be a mere replica of another topography. In contrast to a patent, the topography does not have to exceed the ability of the average person skilled in the art, it does not require any inventive step.

The German Patent and Trademark Office does not check the nature of the topography before registration. The registration is u. a. only checked to see whether there is only one and not two topographies, that the documents describing the topography are not declared as a trade secret and that the date of first use is no more than two years ago. The registration fee is 300 euros for registration in paper form and 290 euros for registration in electronic form (as of 2017) and is payable within three months of the registration date.

The 10-year term of protection begins on the filing date or on the day of the first non-confidential exploitation. However, this utilization must have taken place within two years prior to the filing date. The term of protection ends at the end of the calendar year. The protection has the effect that it is forbidden to reproduce the topography or to bring it into circulation without the consent of the owner of the property right. However, the reproduction of the topography for the purpose of analysis, evaluation or training is permitted. “ Reverse engineering ”, ie the utilization of a topography that was created as the result of an analysis of a protected topography, is also permitted (Section 6 of the Semiconductor Protection Act).

meaning

In 2005, six new topographies were registered in Germany under the Semiconductor Protection Act, and two in 2006, compared to 506 Mask work registrations in the USA in the 2005 budget year.

Up until 2008 there was not a single legal dispute in Germany over the topographies of semiconductors. From the USA, only the two Brooktree Corp. cases are under the Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984 (SCPA) . vs. Advanced Micro Devices , Inc. (1992) and Altera Corporation vs. Clear Logic , Inc. (2005), the latter case extending the scope of the law from the mere mask comparison (there protected mask of an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) to the functional comparison, because the "bitstream" (configuration program ) of a programmable logic Circuit (PLD) is treated as an executable technical drawing of a mask.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit: Brooktree Corp. v. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. 977 F.2d 1555 ( Memento of September 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit : Altera Corporation vs. Clear Logic, Incorporated uscourts.gov (PDF; 108 kB)
  3. ^ "Altera's layout design is more than a mere idea. It is the blueprint for the layout of the semiconductor chip. ”- See: Integrated circuit layout in the English language Wikipedia