Notes on Article 4
50.
This Article makes it clear that no Contracting Party is obliged to have a sui generis ("special") law regulating the intellectual property rights in layout-designs, but that the regulation of those rights may be part of any of its laws, for example, the laws on copyright, patents, utility models, industrial designs or unfair competition, or may result from a combination of various laws.
51. During the fourth session of the Committee of Experts the Delegation of Argentina, supported by various delegations, proposed the following text for the provision now contained in Article 4:
"Each Contracting State shall be free to protect integrated circuits through a special law on integrated circuits or through its law on copyright, patents, utility models, industrial designs, unfair competition, or any other law or any combination of those laws, provided that the resulting protection is compatible with this Treaty."
The text of Article 4 is similar to the proposal of the Delegation of Argentina.
52. The freedom accorded by this Article is, as far as countries party to the Paris or Berne Conventions are concerned, subject to their obligations under those Conventions (see Article 12).
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