What it does
The Circuit Layouts Act 1989 establishes a sui generis intellectual property regime specifically for the three-dimensional layout of active and passive elements and their interconnections in integrated circuits. As defined in s.5, a "circuit layout" is a representation, fixed in any material form, of that three-dimensional location. An "integrated circuit" itself is a circuit (final or intermediate) whose purpose is to perform an electronic function and in which those elements and interconnections are integrally formed in or on a piece of material.
The Act confers EL rights (exclusive rights defined in s.17) on eligible layouts. An "eligible layout" is an original circuit layout where either the maker was an eligible person at the time of making (s.5) or the layout was first commercially exploited in Australia or an eligible foreign country. "Originality" is addressed in s.11: a layout is not original if its making involved no creative contribution by the maker or if it was commonplace at the time it was made. Section 10 clarifies that a person using a computer to generate the layout is taken to have made it, and the layout is made when first fixed in material form (which includes any storage from which it can be reproduced – s.5).
The core exclusive rights, which subsist for the "protection period" (defined in s.5 as up to ten calendar years after first commercial exploitation or ten years after making if not exploited within that window), are set out in s.17:
- to copy the layout (directly or indirectly) in a material form;
- to make an integrated circuit in accordance with the layout or a copy; and
- to exploit the layout commercially in Australia.
Section 9 extends the concept of "exclusive right" to include the right to authorise another person to do any of those acts. Infringement is detailed in s.19. Copying or authorising copying (s.19(1)), making or authorising the making of an integrated circuit (s.19(2)), or commercial exploitation where the person knows or ought reasonably to know they are unlicensed (s.19(3)), each constitute infringement during the protection period without the licence of the owner.