LAYOUT-DESIGNS OF INTEGRATED CIRCUITS BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

The Minister of State for Law (Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time".

Sir, this Bill, just like the Trade Marks Act, Geographical Indications Act and Copyright (Amendment) Act passed by this House last year, is a product of an Inter-Ministry Committee on the Implementation of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights or the TRIPS Agreement, for short. The Committee has been reviewing our legislation on intellectual property rights (IPR) to give effect to our obligations under the TRIPS Agreement.

This Bill seeks to fulfil Singapore's obligations under Article 35 of the TRIPS Agreement, which requires member countries to provide protection to the layout designs of integrated circuits in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty on Intellectual Property in Respect of Integrated Circuits, 1989 (IPIC) and certain additional provisions in the TRIPS Agreement.

Sir, "layout-designs of integrated circuits" refers essentially to the 3-dimensional disposition of the elements and interconnections making up an integrated circuit or "IC". An IC is an electronic circuit in which the elements of the circuit are integrated into some medium and function as a unit. Currently, the medium used is a solid semiconductor, usually silicon. The manufacturing technology allows the circuit to be integrated into a piece of silicon which is small and thin, like a wafer, commonly called a "chip" or "silicon chip".

The protection of intellectual property right in ICs is an important step. ICs have a growing market as they are utilized in many products from watches to television to traffic lights and of course computers. The design and production of ICs require heavy investment.

Sir, I will now highlight the main provisions of the Bill.

The Bill protects a layout-design that is original in the sense that it is the result of its creator's own intellectual effort and is not common place among creators of layout-designs and manufacturers of integrated circuits at the time of its creation.

Only the owner of a protected layout-design has the right to reproduce it and to commercially exploit it and any integrated circuit in which the layout-design is incorporated. Others may only do so with his consent.

There is no requirement for registration or deposit of the layout-design for the purposes of protection.

The Bill provides a range of defences to infringement proceedings which are common with other branches of intellectual property law. For example, the owner's right is not infringed if the reproduction is done for a private purpose or for the sole purpose of evaluation, analysis, research or teaching. The Bill also allows the use of an evaluation or analysis to create a different layout-design that satisfies the requirement of originality.

In keeping with the position in other branches of our intellectual property law, parallel import of an integrated circuit in which a layout-design is incorporated or an article that contains an integrated circuit in which the layout-design is incorporated would be allowed.

Consistent with the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement and established practice in major WTO countries, the Bill allows the Government to use a layout-design without the permission of the owner for the defence or national security of Singapore, or to assist in the exercise of powers and the implementation of civil defence measures during a state of emergency or state of civil defence emergency. As is usually the case with such provisions, the Bill requires the Government to pay appropriate compensation to the owner for such usage. This is the approach we have also taken in the Copyright Act and Patents Act.

The Court is empowered to grant a compulsory licence for a person to reproduce or commercially exploit a layout-design to remedy an anti-competitive practice. Such remuneration as may be considered reasonable by the Court must be paid to the owner of the layout-design for such usage.

A layout-design would be protected for 10 years after the first commercial exploitation, if the exploitation takes place within five years of its creation. In other cases it would be protected for a maximum period of 15 years after its creation.

The owner of a layout-design may take proceedings and seek whatever remedy by way of damages, injunctions, accounts or otherwise in regard to an infringement of his rights in a layout-design as are available with respect to any other property rights.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee].

Bill considered in Committee.

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

The Chairman: In page i to leave out "1998" where it occurs in the 2 lines above the line "Arrangement of Sections" and to insert "1999". This will be done.

Clause 1 -

The Chairman: In page 1, line 7, the citation year "1998" will be changed to "1999". This will be done.

Clause 1 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clauses 2 to 31 inclusive ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 32 -

The Chairman: In page 16, line 31, the citation year "1998" will be changed to "1999". This will be done.

Clause 32 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Bill reported without amendment, read a Third time and passed.