– Act on Protection of Circuitry Design Patterns for Integrated Circuits of June 15, 1990, No. 27, last amended July 1, 2022.

Applicant: (a) the creator must be a citizen of or a resident in a state belonging to the European Economic System (EES), unless the rights belong to or are assigned to the creator’s employer; or (b) belong to or are assigned to a physical person being a citizen of or a resident within EES, or a legal entity having commercial activity within EES; (c) commercial use of the design within EES before commercialization elsewhere, and including conditions of (b).

Duration: until ten years after the design was first commercially exploited. The monopoly of rights is established when the circuitry design was first created.

Violation of rights: copying the design, and making an integrated circuit; using or importing the design, including an integrated circuit made therefrom, for commercial purposes. Confiscation or destruction of copies may be effected.

Non-violation of rights: making the circuitry for private use or for analysis or teaching. Such specimens must not be used in other ways. Use and import of circuitry design specimens which by the proprietor of rights or through his consent have been put into commercial sale with the European Economic System (EES).

Transfer of rights: if the creator is an employee, the rights are transferable to the employer under certain conditions.

Non-protectable: definitions, methods, systems, techniques, or information which the circuitry design represents or is based on.

Good faith usage: if the integrated circuit has been obtained without knowledge that it has been made, commercialized or imported in violation with this Act, or without realizing that such violation was present, import and use is permitted. If the user is no longer of good faith, then such import or commercialization is prohibited unless an agreement is made among the parties involved, or decided by the court.

Penalty: fine or imprisonment of maximum three years (depending on seriousness of circumstances).