- Part I Basic provisions
- Part IIRights and obligations of topography owner
- Section 8Topography owner
- Section 9Co-ownership of the topography
- Protection Effects Section 10
- Section 11
- Section 12 Transfer of Right to a Topographyby Means of Written Contract or by Operation of Law
- Section 13The Right of Lien
- Section 14Licence
- Section 15Compulsory Licence
- Section 16
- Section 17Repudiation of a Right to Topography
- Section 18Cessation of Protection of a Topography
- Section 19Infringement of Rights and Disputes Hearing
- Section 19aRight of Information
- Section 20
- Part IIIProceedings Related to Topographies
- Section 21Requirements of Application for Registration of a Topography
- Section 22Registration of a Topography
- Section 23Invalidation of registration
- Section 24
- Section 25Forfeiture of the Protection and Rectification
- Section 26Registration of Licence, of the Right of Lien,of the Transfer of Topography Ownership, and of Law-Suit.
- Section 27 Further Processing
- Section 28Restitutio in integrum
- Section 29Grounds for the Decision
- Section 30Fees Incurred in the Course of Proceedings
- Section 31Remedies
- Section 32Access to Data, Trade Secrets
- Section 33Register of Topographies
- Section 34Official Journal of the Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic
- Part IVCommon, Temporary and Annulling Provisions
- AnnexList of implemented Legal acts of European Communities and of the European Union
Act No. 146/2000 Coll. on Legal Protection of Topographies of Semiconductor Products as amended
Amended by: Act No 84/2007 Coll.
Part I Basic provisions
Section 1 Subject of Law
Regulation of relations rising in relation to creation, protection and exploitation of topographies of semiconductor products is the subject of this law.
Section 2 Subject of protection
- The protection of this law applies to topography in so far as it satisfies the conditions that it is result of its creator's own intellectual effort and it is not commonplace in the semiconductor industry.
- Where the topography of a semiconductor product consists of elements that are commonplace in the semiconductor industry, it is to be protected only to the extent that the combination of such elements taken as a whole fulfils the conditions stipulated in Paragraph 1.
- The protection granted to the topographies of semiconductor products in accordance with Paragraph 1 shall not extend to any concept, system, process, technique or encoded information embodied in the topography other than the topography itself.
Section 3 Specification of terms
1. For the purposes of this law:
a) topography shall mean a series of related images, however fixed or encoded, representing the three-dimensional pattern of the layers of which a semiconductor product is composed and each image has the pattern or part of the pattern of a surface of the semiconductor product at any stage of its manufacture,
b) semiconductor product shall mean a microelectronic product whether in its final form or in the form of the intermediate product which is intended to perform, exclusively or together with other functions, an electronic function; consisting of a body of material which includes a layer of semiconducting material, and having one or more other layers of conducting, insulating or semiconducting material, the layers being arranged in accordance with a predetermined three-dimensional pattern.
c) commercial exploitation of a topography or semiconductor product containing topography shall mean the sale, rental, export, import or any other method of commercial distribution, or an offer for these purposes on the territory of the Slovak Republic or anywhere in the world.
2. For the purposes of this law commercial exploitation shall not include exploitation under conditions of confidentiality to the extent that topography or semiconductor product including topography was not subject of a commercial relation.
Right to Protection
Section 4 Entitled persons - The right to protection of a topography shall apply in favour of the topography creator, if it is not stated otherwise.
- The creator is the person who has created the topography using his/her own intellectual effort.
- As for the rights of the co-creators of a topography, their right to protection applies to the extent to which they contributed to the creation of the topography. Where any doubt arises, in so far as the co-creators do not come to any other agreement or the court does not state it otherwise, the contribution of all co-creators of one topography shall be considered as equal.
- Where the creator has created a topography in the course of his/her employment or under any other obligation resulting from any other contractual relationship, the right to protection shall apply in favour of the creator's employer or in favour of a party entitled from any other contractual relationship, unless the parties to the contract came to any other agreement.
- Where no right to protection applies in favour of the persons pursuant to Paragraphs 1, 3 or 4, the right to protection shall apply in favour of the person who on the basis of the exclusive authorisation granted by the person pursuant to Paragraphs 1, 3, or 4 first commercially exploited on the territory of the Slovak Republic a topography which has not yet been exploited commercially anywhere in the world.
- The right to protection shall apply in favour of the successors in title of the persons pursuant to Paragraphs 1, 3, 4 and 5.
Section 5
1. The right to protection shall apply in favour of entitled natural persons or legal persons pursuant to Section 4:
a) who are nationals of the Slovak Republic or who are nationals of the member state of WTO, or
b) who have their habitual residence, seat, establishment or organisational component1 on the territory of the Slovak Republic or who have their habitual residence, seat, establishment or organisational component on the territory of the member state of WTO.
2. The right to protection in favour of persons pursuant to Section 4 who do not comply with the conditions pursuant to paragraph 1, shall apply only if the condition of reciprocity is satisfied.
Section 6
The right to protection of a topography shall come to an end 15 years from the date of its fixation or encoding, provided that the topography in question has not been commercially exploited or if a application for registration pursuant to Section 22 Paragraph 3 has not been filed with the Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter referred to as "the Office").
Section 7 The Emergence and Duration of Protection
1. Protection of a topography comes into existence on the following dates:
a) on the date when the topography is first commercially exploited, provided that a application pursuant to Section 22 Paragraph 3 has not been filed with the Office within the period of two years since the date of this exploitation, or
b) on the date when application pursuant to the provision in Section 22 Paragraph 3 has been filed, provided that the topography has not been commercially exploited before
2. The duration of the topography protection shall come to an end 10 years from the end of the calendar year in which the said protection came into existence.
1) Sec. 21 paragraph 3 of the Act No. 513/1991 Coll. as amended, the Commercial Code
Part II Rights and obligations of topography owner
Section 8 Topography owner
Legal person or natural person recorded with the register of the topographies (hereinafter referred to as “the Register”) shall be deemed to be an owner of the topography.
Section 9 Co-ownership of the topography - As far as relations of co-owners of a topography are concerned, provisions of special law shall apply2.
- Agreement on dissolution of the co-ownership and mutual settlement has to be concluded in written form, otherwise it is not valid.
- Agreement pursuant to Paragraph 2 shall become effective as regards third parties from the date when it is recorded in the register.
Protection Effects
Section 10
1. If it is not stated otherwise, topography owner shall have the exclusive right to exploit the topography, to reproduce the topography, to transfer the right concerning the topography to a third person, to authorise or prohibit the following acts
a) reproduction of a topography, b) production of the semiconductor product, in which the protected topography is included,
Sec. 137 to 142 of the Civil Code
c) commercial exploitation or the importation for that purpose of a topography or of a semiconductor product in which the protected topography is included. - The exclusive rights stipulated in Paragraph 1 apply also a) for the period from coming into existence of the protection pursuant to Section 7 Paragraph 1 to entry of the topography in the Register,
- b) for the period prior to coming into existence of the protection pursuant to Section 7 Paragraph 1 given that the owner proves that a third person has infringed an exclusive right pursuant to Paragraph 1 while the topography has not been created independently of the creator or other entitled person pursuant to Section 4.
- The topography owner is able to enforce his/her exclusive right only after the said topography has been entered in the register.
Section 11
1. The effects of the protection of a topography do not apply to the following:
a) acts done privately for non-commercial aims,
b) reproduction of the topography for the purpose of analyzing, evaluating or teaching the concepts, processes, systems or techniques embodied in the topography or the topography itself
c) acts done in relation to other topography meeting the requirements of Section 2 Paragraph 2, created on the basis of an analysis and evaluation of topography pursuant to Letter b)
d) further commercial exploitation or importation of a topography or of a semiconductor product containing a topography, after the topography or the semiconductor product in question has been put on the market by the topography owner or with his/her express consent.
2. The effects of the protection of a topography do not apply to the person, who, in good faith, acquires a semiconductor product containing a topography, which product has been put on the market without the consent of the topography owner. From the moment this person knows or has reasonable grounds to believe that he/she infringes an exclusive right pursuant to Section 10 paragraph 1 by his/her acts, he/she is further entitled to commercially exploit the product, whether acquired or ordered prior to this notification, being at the same time obliged to pay the owner, upon the owner's own request, due compensation for further exploitation of the product which corresponds to a reasonable licence fee3.
Section 12
Transfer of Right to a Topography by Means of Written Contract or by Operation of Law
- Rights to a topography are transferred to a new owner by operation of law in cases stipulated by special regulations4.
- Rights to a topography are to be transferred exclusively by means of a written contract, otherwise the transfer is not valid.
- Transfer of the rights to a topography by means of a written contract and by operation of law is effective as regards third parties from the date when it is recorded in the register of topographies.
- Rights of the third parties acquired prior to the date of the transfer of the rights to topography are to be maintained. This, however does not apply in case of transfer of the right concerning a topography by operation of law on the basis of rectification pursuant to Section 25, Paragraph 1.
Section 13 The Right of Lien
Section 508 paragraph 1 of the Commercial Code - The emergence, change and cessation of the right of lien, as well as the relations between the lien creditor and the lien debtor, are to be regulated by the general provisions relating to the right of lien5.
- Contractual lien is to be established by means of a written contract.
- The emergence of the right of lien is effective as regards third parties from the date when it is recorded in the register of topographies.
- As for the right of sublien, the relevant provisions of Paragraphs 1-3, as well as the general provisions relating to the right of sublien, are to be used6.
Section 14 Licence - The emergence, cessation and enforcement of a licence contract is to be regulated by the provisions of special law7.
- The licence contract is effective as regards third parties from the date when it is recorded in the register of topographies.
- Where the licence contract does not state otherwise, the owner of a topography can exploit an object of the licence by himself and enter into other licence relations with third parties without any limitations (hereinafter referred to only as “non-exclusive licence”).
- In case of infringement or jeopardising of rights protected by this Act, a licence holder shall have same rights as the owner of a topography
4
e.g. Sections 69 and 259 of the Commercial Code, Section 460 to 462 of the Civil Code
5
§ 151a) -§151g) of the Civil Code
6
§151k) -§ 151m) of the Civil Code
7
Sections 508-515 of the Commercial Code
Section 15 Compulsory Licence
1. The court may grant a compulsory licence based on the request of any person, who provides evidence of capability to reproduce the topography in question and to produce the semiconductor product containing the protected topography, on the territory of the Slovak Republic, provided that: a) 3 years have elapsed since the date of the registration of a topography, b) the person who requests a compulsory licence has presented a proper proposal for a contractual licence prior to the filing of the request for a compulsory licence, which proposal has not been accepted by the owner of the topography,
c) the topography has not been exploited on the territory of the Slovak Republic by the owner without reasonable grounds or it has been exploited insufficiently and the products containing the protected topography are not present on the Slovak Republic market -or they are present there, but in an insufficient quantity. The absence of any reasonable grounds for non-exploitation is presumed until reasonable ground has been proved.
2. A compulsory licence can be granted exclusively a) for non-commercial exploitation or to remedy practice of the topography owner that can be deemed to be anti-competitive on the basis of the relevant authority decision8 or in case of serious public nuisance,
b) as non-exclusive licence which duration and extent shall be limited to the purpose for which it was granted with the condition of predominant supply of the domestic market.
3. A compulsory licence can be granted in case of serious public nuisance notwithstanding Paragraph 1a).
5. If a substantial change of circumstances occurs in relation to those circumstances which previously led to a compulsory licence being granted, the Court may, upon request of one
Act No. 188/1994 Coll., as amended, on protection of economic competition
of the parties to the contractual licence change any of the conditions, extent and duration of compulsory licence or revoke the previous decision whereby a compulsory licence was granted, provided that it is satisfied that it is improbable that there will be any recurrence of the circumstances which gave rise to the grant of the compulsory licence. - The valid and executable decision on compulsory licence granting or revoking shall be immediately delivered by the court to the Office, and the Office shall record these facts in the register.
- A compulsory licence can be transferred, whether by means of written contract or by operation of law, only as a part of enterprise transfer or as a part of transfer of that part of enterprise which uses topography on the basis of the compulsory licence.
- As far as transfer pursuant to the paragraph 6 is concerned, provisions of Section 12 para.1-3 apply mutatis mutandis.
Section 16 - When a compulsory licence is granted, the right of the topography owner to receive adequate compensation is left intact.3)
- Where the parties to a compulsory licence, which has come into being on the basis of a decision that a compulsory licence should be granted, have not reached any agreement on compensation, notwithstanding negotiations relating thereto, the amount and the way of adequate compensation shall be determined by the court, upon request of one of the parties to the compulsory licence. If a substantial change of circumstances occurs, which is likely to involve changes to the compensation which should be awarded, the court may, upon request of one of the parties to the compulsory licence, amend the compensation from that previously agreed or determined by the court, given that the parties to compulsory licence have not reached any agreement, notwithstanding negotiations relating thereto.
Section 17 Repudiation of a Right to Topography - The owner of a topography may repudiate his/her right to the topography by means of a written notification delivered to the Office.
- The repudiation of a right to a topography comes into effect on the date when the notification pursuant to Section 1 is delivered to the Office.
- Such a repudiation of a right to a topography which also affects the rights of third parties that are registered in the register of topographies, shall come into effect only after a written consent of the person whose rights and legitimate interests may be affected by the topography cessation is presented. The same applies in case a law-suit is recorded in the register of topographies, the subject of which law suit is the right to the topography.
Section 18 Cessation of Protection of a Topography
Protection of a topography comes to an end on the following dates: a) on the date when protection of a topography pursuant to Sec. 7 Paragraph 2 expires, b) on the date when the repudiation of the right to topography pursuant to Section 17 comes into effect.
Section 19 Infringement of Rights and Disputes Hearing - In case of infringement of rights protected by this Act or jeopardising of these rights, person whose right has been infringed or jeopardised is entitled to claim prohibition of infringement or jeopardising of his rights and to eliminate consequences of infringement.
- If damage has been caused by infringement of rights pursuant to paragraph 1, the aggrieved party has right to compensation of actual damage including profit lost. If a non-pecuniary injury has been caused by infringement of rights, the aggrieved party shall have right to adequate satisfaction, which can be in form of pecuniary compensation8a .
Section 19a Right of Information - The owner of topography may requests in infringement or jeopardising of his rights protected by this Act that a person infringing or jeopardising his rights provided him information related to origin of a topography or a semiconductor product containing a topography which infringes the rights pursuant to this Act and to circumstances of its placing on the market.
- Information pursuant to paragraph 1 shall contain in particular:
a) name and surname or business name or name and place of permanent residence or place of business, or place of business of a producer, processer, storekeeper, distributor, provider, dealer and other previous holders of a topography or a semiconductor product containing a topography;
b) indications on produced, processed, provided or ordered quantity and price of relevant topography or a semiconductor product containing a topography.
3. To provide information pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 2 is obliged also a person who a) has in possession a topography or a semiconductor product containing
a topography infringing rights pursuant to this Act;
b) exploits services infringing rights pursuant to this Act;
c) provides services exploited in activities related to infringement of rights pursuant to
this Act; or d) was indicated by a person mentioned in sub-paragraphs a) to c) as a person participating in production, processing or distribution of the topography or
8a
Civil Code
the semiconductor product containing the topography or providing services infringing rights pursuant to this Act.
Section 20
Amended by: Act No 84/2007 Coll.
Part I Basic provisions
Regulation of relations rising in relation to creation, protection and exploitation of topographies of semiconductor products is the subject of this law.
1. For the purposes of this law:
a) topography shall mean a series of related images, however fixed or encoded, representing the three-dimensional pattern of the layers of which a semiconductor product is composed and each image has the pattern or part of the pattern of a surface of the semiconductor product at any stage of its manufacture,
b) semiconductor product shall mean a microelectronic product whether in its final form or in the form of the intermediate product which is intended to perform, exclusively or together with other functions, an electronic function; consisting of a body of material which includes a layer of semiconducting material, and having one or more other layers of conducting, insulating or semiconducting material, the layers being arranged in accordance with a predetermined three-dimensional pattern.
c) commercial exploitation of a topography or semiconductor product containing topography shall mean the sale, rental, export, import or any other method of commercial distribution, or an offer for these purposes on the territory of the Slovak Republic or anywhere in the world.
2. For the purposes of this law commercial exploitation shall not include exploitation under conditions of confidentiality to the extent that topography or semiconductor product including topography was not subject of a commercial relation.
Section 4 Entitled persons Section 5
1. The right to protection shall apply in favour of entitled natural persons or legal persons pursuant to Section 4:
a) who are nationals of the Slovak Republic or who are nationals of the member state of WTO, or
b) who have their habitual residence, seat, establishment or organisational component1 on the territory of the Slovak Republic or who have their habitual residence, seat, establishment or organisational component on the territory of the member state of WTO.
2. The right to protection in favour of persons pursuant to Section 4 who do not comply with the conditions pursuant to paragraph 1, shall apply only if the condition of reciprocity is satisfied.
Section 6
The right to protection of a topography shall come to an end 15 years from the date of its fixation or encoding, provided that the topography in question has not been commercially exploited or if a application for registration pursuant to Section 22 Paragraph 3 has not been filed with the Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter referred to as "the Office").
1. Protection of a topography comes into existence on the following dates:
a) on the date when the topography is first commercially exploited, provided that a application pursuant to Section 22 Paragraph 3 has not been filed with the Office within the period of two years since the date of this exploitation, or
b) on the date when application pursuant to the provision in Section 22 Paragraph 3 has been filed, provided that the topography has not been commercially exploited before
2. The duration of the topography protection shall come to an end 10 years from the end of the calendar year in which the said protection came into existence.
1) Sec. 21 paragraph 3 of the Act No. 513/1991 Coll. as amended, the Commercial Code
Part II Rights and obligations of topography owner
Legal person or natural person recorded with the register of the topographies (hereinafter referred to as “the Register”) shall be deemed to be an owner of the topography.
Section 9 Co-ownership of the topography Section 10
1. If it is not stated otherwise, topography owner shall have the exclusive right to exploit the topography, to reproduce the topography, to transfer the right concerning the topography to a third person, to authorise or prohibit the following acts
a) reproduction of a topography, b) production of the semiconductor product, in which the protected topography is included,
Sec. 137 to 142 of the Civil Code
c) commercial exploitation or the importation for that purpose of a topography or of a semiconductor product in which the protected topography is included. Section 11
1. The effects of the protection of a topography do not apply to the following:
a) acts done privately for non-commercial aims,
b) reproduction of the topography for the purpose of analyzing, evaluating or teaching the concepts, processes, systems or techniques embodied in the topography or the topography itself
c) acts done in relation to other topography meeting the requirements of Section 2 Paragraph 2, created on the basis of an analysis and evaluation of topography pursuant to Letter b)
d) further commercial exploitation or importation of a topography or of a semiconductor product containing a topography, after the topography or the semiconductor product in question has been put on the market by the topography owner or with his/her express consent.
2. The effects of the protection of a topography do not apply to the person, who, in good faith, acquires a semiconductor product containing a topography, which product has been put on the market without the consent of the topography owner. From the moment this person knows or has reasonable grounds to believe that he/she infringes an exclusive right pursuant to Section 10 paragraph 1 by his/her acts, he/she is further entitled to commercially exploit the product, whether acquired or ordered prior to this notification, being at the same time obliged to pay the owner, upon the owner's own request, due compensation for further exploitation of the product which corresponds to a reasonable licence fee3.
Section 12
Section 13 The Right of Lien
Section 508 paragraph 1 of the Commercial Code Section 14 Licence 4
e.g. Sections 69 and 259 of the Commercial Code, Section 460 to 462 of the Civil Code
5
§ 151a) -§151g) of the Civil Code
6
§151k) -§ 151m) of the Civil Code
7
Sections 508-515 of the Commercial Code
Section 15 Compulsory Licence
1. The court may grant a compulsory licence based on the request of any person, who provides evidence of capability to reproduce the topography in question and to produce the semiconductor product containing the protected topography, on the territory of the Slovak Republic, provided that: a) 3 years have elapsed since the date of the registration of a topography, b) the person who requests a compulsory licence has presented a proper proposal for a contractual licence prior to the filing of the request for a compulsory licence, which proposal has not been accepted by the owner of the topography,
c) the topography has not been exploited on the territory of the Slovak Republic by the owner without reasonable grounds or it has been exploited insufficiently and the products containing the protected topography are not present on the Slovak Republic market -or they are present there, but in an insufficient quantity. The absence of any reasonable grounds for non-exploitation is presumed until reasonable ground has been proved.
2. A compulsory licence can be granted exclusively a) for non-commercial exploitation or to remedy practice of the topography owner that can be deemed to be anti-competitive on the basis of the relevant authority decision8 or in case of serious public nuisance,
b) as non-exclusive licence which duration and extent shall be limited to the purpose for which it was granted with the condition of predominant supply of the domestic market.
3. A compulsory licence can be granted in case of serious public nuisance notwithstanding Paragraph 1a).
5. If a substantial change of circumstances occurs in relation to those circumstances which previously led to a compulsory licence being granted, the Court may, upon request of one
Act No. 188/1994 Coll., as amended, on protection of economic competition
of the parties to the contractual licence change any of the conditions, extent and duration of compulsory licence or revoke the previous decision whereby a compulsory licence was granted, provided that it is satisfied that it is improbable that there will be any recurrence of the circumstances which gave rise to the grant of the compulsory licence. Section 16 Section 17 Repudiation of a Right to Topography Section 18 Cessation of Protection of a Topography
Protection of a topography comes to an end on the following dates: a) on the date when protection of a topography pursuant to Sec. 7 Paragraph 2 expires, b) on the date when the repudiation of the right to topography pursuant to Section 17 comes into effect.
Section 19 Infringement of Rights and Disputes Hearing Section 19a Right of Information a) name and surname or business name or name and place of permanent residence or place of business, or place of business of a producer, processer, storekeeper, distributor, provider, dealer and other previous holders of a topography or a semiconductor product containing a topography;
b) indications on produced, processed, provided or ordered quantity and price of relevant topography or a semiconductor product containing a topography.
3. To provide information pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 2 is obliged also a person who a) has in possession a topography or a semiconductor product containing
a topography infringing rights pursuant to this Act;
b) exploits services infringing rights pursuant to this Act;
c) provides services exploited in activities related to infringement of rights pursuant to
this Act; or d) was indicated by a person mentioned in sub-paragraphs a) to c) as a person participating in production, processing or distribution of the topography or
8a
Civil Code
the semiconductor product containing the topography or providing services infringing rights pursuant to this Act.
Section 20 Section 1 Subject of Law
Section 2 Subject of protection
Section 3 Specification of terms
Right to Protection
Section 7 The Emergence and Duration of Protection
Section 8 Topography owner
Protection Effects
Transfer of Right to a Topography by Means of Written Contract or by Operation of Law