PUBLIC LAW 98-620—NOV. 8, 1984
98 STAT. 3347
TITLE III SHORT TITLE
SEC. 301. This title may be cited as the "Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984".
Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984. 17 USC 901 note.
PROTECTION OF SEMICONDUCTOR CHIP PRODUCTS
SEC. 302. Title 17, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new chapter:
Computers.
"CHAPTER 9—PROTECTION OF SEMICONDUCTOR CHIP PRODUCTS "Sec. "901. Definitions. "902. Subject matter of protection. "903. Ownership and transfer. "904. Duration of protection. "905. Exclusive rights in mask works. "906. Limitation on exclusive rights: reverse engineering; first sale. "907. Limitation on exclusive rights: innocent infringement. "908. Registration of claims of protection. "909. Mask work notice. "910. Enforcement of exclusive rights. "911. Civil actions. "912. Relation to other laws. "913. Transitional provisions. "914. International transitional provisions.
"§ 901. Definitions "(a) As used in this chapter— "(1) a 'semiconductor chip product' is the final or intermediate form of any product— "(A) having two or more layers of metallic, insulating, or semiconductor material, deposited or otherwise placed on, or etched away or otherwise removed from, a piece of semiconductor material in accordance with a predetermined pattern; and "(B) intended to perform electronic circuitry functions; "(2) a 'mask work' is a series of related images, however fixed or encoded— "(A) having or representing the predetermined, threedimensional pattern of metallic, insulating, or semiconductor material present or removed from the layers of a semiconductor chip product; and "(B) in which series the relation of the images to one another is that each image has the pattern of the surface of one form of the semiconductor chip product; "(3) a mask work is 'fixed' in a semiconductor chip product when its embodiment in the product is sufficiently permanent or stable to permit the mask work to be perceived or reproduced from the product for a period of more than transitory duration; "(4) to 'distribute' means to sell, or to lease, bail, or otherwise transfer, or to offer to sell, lease, bail, or otherwise transfer; "(5) to 'commercially exploit' a mask work is to distribute to the public for commercial purposes a semiconductor chip product embodying the mask work; except that such term includes an offer to sell or transfer a semiconductor chip product only
17 USC 901.
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