For the purpose of this Law, “integrated circuit” means a product, in its final form or an intermediate form, in which the elements, at least one of which is an active element, and some or all of the interconnections are integrally formed on a piece of isolating material and which is intended to perform a specific electronic function.

Layout design means also the three dimensional disposition prepared for an integrated circuit intended for manufacturing.

Protection under this Law may be obtained for original layout designs of integrated circuits.

A layout design shall be considered to be new if it is the result of its creator’s own intellectual effort and is not part of the general knowledge common among professionals of the relevant industrial art.

Nevertheless, a layout design consisting of elements that are part of the general knowledge common among professionals of the relevant industrial art shall also be considered new, if the combination of its components and their interconnections are in themselves original.

Protection shall not apply to any concept, process, technology or any coded information stored in the layout design of an integrated circuit.

The protection period of a layout design shall be ten years from the date when the application for the registration was filed in Egypt or ten years from the date when it was first commercially exploited in Egypt or abroad, whichever comes first.

In all cases, the protection of a layout design shall cease 15 years from the date of its creation.

Application for the registration with the Patent Office of a layout design shall be filed by its owner and shall be accompanied by a picture or a drawing and a sample of each integrated circuit that has been commercially exploited along with the information illustrating the electronic function of the integrated circuit.

The applicant may, however, exclude such part or parts of the design provided that the parts submitted are sufficient to identify the layout design and its function.

The Patent Office shall maintain a register in which it shall record all applications according to the rules and procedure prescribed by the Regulations. Each application shall be subject to the payment of fees, as determined in the Regulations, not exceeding 1,000 pounds.

The application shall not be accepted if it is filed after two years from the date of its first commercial exploitation, within or outside Egypt, by the owner of the right.

No natural person or legal entity shall perform any of the following acts without a prior written authorization by the owner of the right to a protected layout design:

1. Reproducing, whether by incorporation in an integrated circuit or otherwise, the whole or any part of the protected layout design.

2. Importation, sale or distribution of the layout design for the purpose of trade, whether separately, as part of an integrated circuit or as a component of a product.

Without prejudice to the protection provisions prescribed in this Chapter, a natural person or a legal entity may, without the authorization of the right owner, undertake one or more of the following acts:

1. Reproduction or commercial exploitation, which includes importing, selling or distributing, of an integrated circuit that includes a protected layout design or a product in which such an integrated circuit is used, if such an act is done by a person who did not know, or was not in a position to know, at the time of the act that such an integrated circuit or product incorporate a protected layout design.
In such a case, the acquirer may, against payment of a fair compensation to the right owner, dispose of any stock or amounts ordered, upon his notification by the right owner, by a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, that the integrated circuit or the product in his possession contains a protected layout design.

2. Personal use or for the purpose of test, examination, analysis, teaching, training or scientific research of the protected layout design. Where such use leads to the creation of a new layout design, the creator shall be entitled to have it protected.

3. Creation of a layout design, identical with another protected layout design, as a result of independent efforts.

4. Importing a protected layout design or an integrated circuit which was produced using a protected layout design, whether this circuit was separate or incorporated in a product, and whether the product contains an integrated circuit containing a protected layout design, whenever any was circulated in Egypt or abroad.

The Patent Office may decide to grant, to a third party, a non-voluntary license for the exploitation of a protected layout design according to the provisions of the non-voluntary license of patents provided for in Articles 23 and 24.

Any violation of Article 50 shall be punishable by a fine of not less than 40,000 pounds and of not more than 100,000 pounds.

In case of repetition, the offense shall be punishable by imprisonment for a period of not more than two years and by a fine of not more than 200,000 pounds.

The provisions of Articles 4, 33, 35 and 42 shall apply to this Chapter.