– Legislative Decree No. 30 of February 10, 2005 (Industrial Property Code), as amended by Legislative Decree No. 131 of August 13, 2010, by the Decree of November 13, 2019, and by Law No. 102 of July 24, 2023, in force since August 23, 2023.
– Decree No. 33 of January 13, 2010 (Implementing Regulation to the Industrial Property Code).

Definition: the same as in the EEC Directive.

Requirement of originality: the topography of a semiconductor should be the result of an intellectual creation and should not be commonplace in the field. A combination of elements, which individually are commonplace, shall be protectable if, as a combination, it meets the originality requirement.

Registration and duration of protection: the application is to be filed within two years of the first commercial exploitation anywhere, and the exclusive rights expire after ten years starting from the date of the first commercial exploitation or the filing date of the application, whichever is earliest. The right to apply for registration comes to an end at the expiry of the fifteenth year from the first fixation or encoding of the topography which has not been commercially exploited anywhere in the world.

Who can obtain protection: protection can be granted to applicants who, at the date of the first exploitation or at the filing date of the application for registration are natural or legal persons, who are national of or have their domicile or a permanent industrial or commercial establishment in any EEC member State or of a country having a reciprocity agreement.

Indication of protection: the new topography, or the product embodying it, may bear the indication “T” in a circle together with the date of the first commercial exploitation and the name of the owner of the rights. This indication shall be used only when the topography has been registered or an application has been filed.

Acts forbidden: (1) reproduction by any means or procedure of the topography; (2) inclusion of the topography in a semiconductor product; (3) use, importation, possession for commercial purposes, or commercial use or distribution of the semiconductor product including the topography.

Infringement actions: legal actions for infringement, damages or equitable compensation, may be brought before a specialized court only after the registration of the topography and should concern only the infringing activity made during the three-year period preceding the commencement of said legal action. Preliminary injunction actions are available under the same provisions of the patent law.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to registered resident patent attorney):
1. Documentation permitting identification of the topography sought to be protected; such documentation must be submitted in A4 (210 x 297 mm) format or in another format provided that it can be folded to A4 format and may include drawings or photographs showing the configurations of the layers of the semiconductor product, or the masks or parts of masks for the manufacture of the semiconductor product or the individual layers of the semiconductor product; additionally a description may be filed permitting better identification of the topography or the most characteristic parts thereof as well as a magnetic tape, computer printouts, microfilms or data storage media on which the topography is recorded in coded form and one or more samples of the semiconductor product. Where a topography does not represent the complete surface of the product, this fact must be pointed out;
2. Declaration certifying the date of the first act of commercial use of the topography, if that date is before the application date; if the applicant is a person other than the person who performed the first act of commercial use, the legal relationship entered into with the latter must be declared;
3. Designation of the author(s) of the topography;
4. Power of attorney (no legalization required).

Examination: although the law does not expressly exclude examination as to registrability, the rules refer to formal examination only.

Opposition: not possible.

Registration: the Italian Patent Office enters the chip design in the official Register, issuing a corresponding registration certificate.

Beginning of protection: the protection begins on the date of the first act of commercial exploitation, even though any infringement action cannot be brought before registration.

Duration: ten years from the earlier of (1) the end of the calendar year in which the topography or the semiconductor product in which the topography is fixed has first been commercially exploited anywhere in the world or (2) the end of the calendar year in which the application for registration has been filed.

Annuities: no annuities, but only an application fee and a registration fee to be paid upon request from the Central Patent Office before the registration decision.

Working: no working required.

Infringement: actions for infringement are basically ruled by the same provisions applicable to “patents“.

Assignments and licenses: the same provisions applies as for “patents“.

Cancellation: on request by any party having an interest therein showing that the topography is not protectable and/or the application does fulfillthe requirements of the law.