In Estonia the Integrated Circuits Protection Act adopted by the Parliament already on 25 November 1998 came into force on 16 March 1999. This Act follows the principles of the Washington 1989 Treaty, TRIPs Agreement and EU Directive 87/54/EEC on the legal protection of topographies of semiconductor products.
The structure and terms used in the Act are similar to these of the Directive.
Legal protection can be obtained by registration if the IC is orginal and has not been commercially exploited for more than two years before filing the application. The state fee for filing the application of registration is DEM 200.
IC is legally protected for 10 years from the day when the IC was first commercially exploited or from the date of filing, whichever is earlier.
IC is original if it is a result of the creator's own intellectual effort and is not commonplace in the semiconductor industry. Owner of registred IC has an exclusive right to reproduce the IC and exploit it commercially, right to prohibit the other persons to do the same and right to demand the other persons to stop the infringement of the said rights, to eliminate the the results of the infringement and to compensate for the damages.
The main research and development of integral circuits in Estonia is done within several international projects in Technical University of Tallinn.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
