| Law of December 29, 1988, | ||
| on the Legal Protection of Topographies of Semiconductor Products | ||||
| Chapter 1
Definitions | ||||
| Definitions | ||||
| 1.– | ||||
| (1) For the purposes of this Law: | ||||
| (a) a “semiconductor product” shall mean the final or an intermediate form of any product: | ||||
| (i) consisting of a body of material which includes a layer of semiconducting material; and | ||||
| (ii) having one or more other layers composed of conducting, insulating or semiconducting material, the layers being arranged in accordance with a predetermined three-dimensional pattern; and | ||||
| (iii) intended to perform, exclusively or together with other functions, an electronic function; | ||||
| (b) the “topography” of a semiconductor product shall mean a series of related images, however fixed or encoded: | ||||
| (i) representing the three-dimensional pattern of the layers of which a semiconductor product is composed; and | ||||
| (ii) in which series each image has the pattern or part of the pattern of a surface of the semiconductor product at any stage of its manufacture; | ||||
| (2) The definitions contained in subsection (1)(a)(i) and (ii) may be amended by Grand-Ducal Regulation. | ||||
| Chapter 2
Protection of Topographies of Semiconductor Products Constitution of Exclusive Rights | ||||
| 2.– | ||||
| Ownership of Exclusive Rights | ||||
| 3.– | ||||
| (1) Subject to subsections (2) to (5), the right to protection shall apply in favor of the creators of the topographies of semiconductor products. | ||||
| (2) | ||||
| (3) | ||||
| (b) In the cases referred to in subsection (2), the right to protection shall apply in favor of: | ||||
| (i) natural persons who are nationals of a Member State of the European Economic Community or who have their habitual residence on the territory of a Community Member State; | ||||
| (ii) companies or other legal persons who have a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment on the territory of a Community Member State. | ||||
| (a) first commercially exploit within a Member State of the European Economic Community a topography which has not yet been exploited commercially anywhere in the world; | ||||
| (b) have been exclusively authorized to exploit commercially the topography throughout the Community by the person entitled to dispose of it. | ||||
| (5) The right to protection shall also apply in favor of the successors in title of the persons referred to insubsections (1) to (4). | ||||
| The above-mentioned decisions of the Council of the European Communities shall be published in theMémorial. | ||||
| Application for Registration | ||||
| 4.– | ||||
| (5) Conditions prescribing the fulfillment of additional formalities for obtaining or maintaining protection shall not be admitted. | ||||
| Effects of the Exclusive Rights | ||||
| 5.– | ||||
| (1) The exclusive rights referred to in Section 2 shall include the right to authorize or prohibit any of the following acts: | ||||
| (a) reproduction of a topography insofar as it is protected under Section 2(2); | ||||
| (b) commercial exploitation or the importation for that purpose of a topography or of a semiconductor product manufactured by using the topography. | ||||
| (2) The reproduction of a topography privately for non-commercial aims shall not infringe the exclusive rights referred to in subsection (1)(a). | ||||
| (5) The exclusive right to authorize or prohibit the acts specified in subsection (1)(b) shall not apply to any such act committed after the topography or the semiconductor product has been put on the market in a Member State of the European Economic Community by the person entitled to authorize its marketing or with his consent. | ||||
| (6) A person who, when he acquires a semiconductor product, does not know or has no reasonable grounds to believe that the product is protected by an exclusive right shall not be prevented from commercially exploiting that product. | ||||
| However, for acts committed after that person knows or has reasonable grounds to believe that the semiconductor product is so protected, the rightholder may require the payment of adequate remuneration determined in accordance with the circumstances. | ||||
| (7) Subsection (6) shall apply to the successors in title of the person referred to in the first sentence of that subsection. | ||||
| Compulsory Licenses and Ex Officio Licenses | ||||
| Commencement and Expiration of the Exclusive Rights | ||||
| 7.– | ||||
| (1) The exclusive rights referred to in Section 2 shall commence on the earlier of the following dates: | ||||
| (a) the date on which the topography is first commercially exploited anywhere in the world; | ||||
| (b) the date on which the application for registration has been filed in due form. | ||||
| (2) Notwithstanding any remedies intended to ensure respect for the exclusive rights granted underSection 2, the person having the right to protection in accordance with this Law who can prove that another person has fraudulently reproduced or commercially exploited or imported for such purposes a topography may, in respect of the period prior to commencement of such rights, take legal action in accordance with the relevant provisions of the legislation on patents for invention. | ||||
| (3) The exclusive rights shall come to an end after a period of 10 years as from the earliest of the following dates: | ||||
| (a) the end of the calendar year during which the topography has been commercially exploited for the first time anywhere in the world, or | ||||
| (b) the end of the calendar year in which the application for registration has been filed in due form. | ||||
| (4) Where a topography has not been commercially exploited anywhere in the world within a period of 15 years from its first fixation or encoding, the exclusive rights referred to in Section 2 may no longer commence in accordance with subsection (1) unless an application for registration has been filed in due form within that period. | ||||
| Limits of Legal Protection | ||||
| 8. The protection granted to the topographies of semiconductor products in accordance with Section 2 shall not extend to any concept, process, system, technique or encoded information embodied in the topography other than the topography itself. | ||||
| Marking of Products | ||||
| 9. The semiconductor products manufactured using protected topographies may carry an indication. Such indication shall be constituted by either a capital T as follows: T, “T,” [T], T, T* or T, or by a T accompanied by mention of the name of the owner of the exclusive rights and the calendar year of first commercial exploitation of the topography anywhere in the world. | ||||
| Chapter 3
Application of Other Legal Provisions | ||||
| Reserved Matter | ||||
| 10.– | ||||
| (1) The provisions of this Law shall be without prejudice to legal provisions concerning rights in patents for invention. The remedies available to persons entitled to protection under this Law, introduced by reference to the legislation on patents for invention, shall only apply as from such time as such remedies are effectively available within the framework of that legislation. | ||||
| (2) The provisions of this Law shall be without prejudice: | ||||
| (a) to rights conferred in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in implementation of international agreements, including the provisions extending such rights to Luxembourg nationals or residents; | ||||
| (b) to the legal provisions in respect of copyright that limit the reproduction of drawings or other artistic representations of topographies by copying them in two dimensions. | ||||
| Legal Proceedings | ||||
| 11. Proceedings for protection of the exclusive rights afforded by Section 2 and compensation for infringements of those rights shall be governed by the relevant provisions of the legislation on patents for invention. | ||||
| Chapter 4
Final Provisions | ||||
| Entry into Force | ||||
| 12. The provisions of this Law shall apply on entry into force to topographies of semiconductor products that have been commercially exploited for the first time anywhere in the world on or after November 7, 1987. | ||||