Computer Ethics and Legal Aspects

Lecture #8
Chapter (7): Computer and patent
Chapter (8): Protection of integrated circuits & Layout design

Done by : kate_aj (Aya)

4/5/2009
 7 ‫الدكتور راجعت معانا على شبتر‬

[: ‫ ونكمل عليه ھنا‬7 ‫وكملت عليه ممكن نبص عليه في محاضرة رقم‬

Chapter (7): Computer and patent

• Who has the right to apply for a patent?
_ Any person or legal entity, Egyptian or foreigner, that is a member of the world trade
organization, or that applies reciprocity (‫ )التبادل‬to Egypt has the right to apply for a patent at the
Egyptian patent office.

‫زي ما قلنا قبل كده من له الحق في أنه يأخذ براءة اختراع؟‬

‫أي حد عاقل راشد سواء اجنبي أومصري‬
‫لو االجنبي ده الدولة بتاعته عضو في منظمة التجارة العالمية فھو يقدر يقدم للحصول على براءة‬
.‫االختراع في مكتب براءة االختراع في مصر التابع للمنظمة العالمية‬

• Ownership and third part rights:

_ If there is more than one person who has jointly made the invention, the right to the
patent belongs to all of them equally, unless they agree otherwise.
_ If more than one person have made the same invention independently (‫)كل واحد لواحده‬,
the rights belongs to the first who applied for a patent.
_ The employer shall have the rights derived from the inventions discovered by the
employee during the period of employment.
_ Duration of a protection: the protection period of a patent is twenty years from the
date of filing the application in Egypt.

• Applications to computers:
_ Computer hardware is clearly patentable. Software is difficult to be patentable for the
following:
1. The protection of a patent covers the inventive, novel and non-obvious, but the
software fulfilling these conditions are limited.
2. The enormous costs of depositing and renewing a patent are expensive.
3. Length of time and difficulty of moving to the state at which a patent is issued because
of the technical requirements of drafting patent applications. Takes from eighteen to
four years.
4. The risk of software being pirated as a result of being published.
 ^_^ ‫_ ھنا بقه بيوضحلي برأة االختراع الخاصة بالكمبيوتر اللي المفرض ھو مجالنا‬

is clearly patentable
For Hardware---

‫بحيث انه واضح اللي فكر في تطوير اي جزء من الھارد بتاع الكمبيوتر دول بيحصلوا على براة أختراع على الجزء اللي‬
‫طوروه في الجھاز‬

‫مثال‬

Screen \keyboard\CPU\Mother board\Memory card………etc

is difficult to be patentable
For Software ---

‫اما بالنسبة للسوفت فصعب اننا نحصل ليه على برأة اختراع بسبب عدة اسباب مذكورة فوق واھمھا‬

. ‫ حيث انه كل يوم تحدث تغيرات جذرية في البرامج‬... ‫المدة الزمنية التي تحتاج حتى تتم إجراءات برأة االختراع‬

8 ‫ وھندخل في شبتر‬7 ‫☺كده خلصنا شبتر‬

Chapter (8): Protection of integrated circuits & Layout design

• Integrated circuits:
_ It is a product in its final form or an intermediate form where at least one of its elements is active.
‫منتج على األقل فيه عنصر واحد شغال‬
1-

active
0-

none active

• Integrated circuits (scientific definition):

_ A complex set of electronic components and their interconnections that are itched or imprinted
onto a tiny slice of semiconducting material.

• Layout design:
_ It is considered to be new if it is the result of its creator’s own intellectual effort. In this case it shall
be granted a patent.
_ No patent is granted for any information stored in the layout design of an integral circuit.
_ Duration of protection: the protection of the layout design shall be ten years from the date of the
registration of the application.
 • How to proceed?
_ The application is filed by the owner of the layout design and shall be attached with it a picture or a
drawing and a sample of the I.C. that has been commercially exploited (‫ )تستخدم‬and an illustration of
its functions.
_ The applicant may exclude a part or parts of design provided that the parts submitted are sufficient
to identify the layout design and its function.

• Permitted acts:
1. Reproduction or commercial exploitation which includes importing, selling or distributing of an
integrated circuit that includes a protected layout design.
2. Personal use or for the purpose of test, examination, analysis, or scientific research.
3. Importing a protected layout design or an I.C. which was produced using a protected layout design.

• Forbidden acts:
1. Reproducing the whole or any part of the protected layout.
2. Importation, sale or distribution of the layout design for the purpose of trade whether separately or
as a component of a product.

• Penalties:
_ Any violation of forbidden acts shall be punished by a fine of not less than 40,000 pounds and up to
100,000 pounds.

Notes

_ El Design bta3 el circuits is the thing that we take on it a patent.

•
I take 20 years
The product --

•
I take 10 years
The design ---

‫من حقك إنك تاخذ جزء من المشروع أ ال أي سي بحيث إنه يبقى جزء حاوي اللي يقدر يؤدي الوظائف الحيوية ممكن أسحب العنصر‬
.‫الحيوي ده واحتفظ بيه لحد ما اخذ الموافقة وبعدين أحطه في اإلختراع تاني الحصل على البراة وذلك لحماية مصالح صاحب اإلختراع‬

Done