Notes on the Title of the draft Treaty
The title of the draft Treaty differs from that used in previous versions considered by the Committee of Experts (the former title being "Draft Treaty on the Protection of Intellectual Property in Respect of Integrated Circuits"). The change is a necessary consequence of the transition from the use of three terms in the definition of the subject-matter of protection in previous versions to the use of two terms in the definition of that subject-matter in the present text of the draft Treaty.
9.
The three terms used in previous versions of the draft Treaty (see Article 1 of the draft Treaty in document IPIC/CE/IV/2) were "integrated circuit," "layout-design" and "microchip." The three terms were intended to distinguish the design ("layout-design"), integration of the design in or on a piece of material ("integrated circuit") and manufacture of an integrated circuit ("microchip").
10. The definitional structure adopted in the present text of the draft Treaty omits reference to the intermediate stage of integration without manufacture, and refers only to design ("layout-design (topography)," defined in Article 2(ii)) and manufacture ("microchip," defined in Article 2(i)). new definitional structure accords with the approach adopted in existing legislative instruments and with the view that integration of a circuit in or on a piece of material necessarily involves some form of manufacture, even if that manufacture consists only of the making of a prototype, as well as with the view expressed by many delegations of developing countries during the fourth session of the Committee of Experts that protection should not be extended to hypothetical designs but only to those layout-designs actually incorporated in a microchip.
11.
Since, in the fourth session of the Committee of Experts, there was no clear preference for either "layout-design" or "topography," the draft Treaty uses the dual terminology of "layout-design (topography)" that was preferred by delegations. This terminology is repeated throughout the text of the draft Treaty, but, for the sake of simplicity, the term "layout-design" alone has generally been used throughout the explanatory notes without the addition of "topography" in parenthesis.
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