COMPENDIUM: Chapter 1200
Mask Works
1201 What This Chapter Covers
This Chapter covers issues related to the examination and registration of mask works fixed in semiconductor chip products (referred to as "mask works"). Mask works are protected pursuant to the Semiconductor Chip Protection Act ("SCPA") of 1984, 17 U.S.C. §§ 901-14, as implemented in Chapter 9 of the Copyright Act.
1202 What Is a Mask Work?
A '"mask work' is "a series of related images, however fixed or encoded — (A] having or representing the predetermined, three-dimensional pattern of metallic, insulating, or semiconductor material present or removed from the layers of a semiconductor chip product; and (B) in which series the relation of the images to one another is that each image has the pattern of the surface of one form of the semiconductor chip product." 17 U.S.C. § 901(a)(2).
1203 Mask Work Protection Distinguished from Copyright Protection
Mask works are not protected by copyright law. Instead, Congress enacted the SCPA to provide sui generis protection for mask works. The legal requirements for mask work protection differ from those for copyright protection in terms of eligibility, ownership rights, registration procedures, term, and remedies for rights violations.
1204 Protectable Mask Works
A mask work is protectable under Chapter 9 of the Copyright Act if it (i) is fixed in a semiconductor chip product, (ii) contains protectable expression, (iii) is original, (iv) meets the required criteria for eligibility, and (v) is registered. 17 U.S.C. § 902.
1204.1 Fixation in a Semiconductor Chip Product
One required element for protection of a mask work is that the mask work must be fixed in a semiconductor chip product. A mask work is "fixed" in a semiconductor chip product "when its embodiment in the product is sufficiently permanent or stable to permit the mask work to be perceived or reproduced from the product for a period of more than transitory duration." 17 U.S.C. § 901(a)(3).
A "semiconductor chip product" is defined as "the final or intermediate form of any product — (A) having two or more layers of metallic, insulating, or semiconductor material, deposited or otherwise placed on or etched away or otherwise removed from, a piece of semiconductor material in accordance with a predetermined pattern; and (B) intended to perform electronic circuitry functions." 17 U.S.C. § 901(a)(1).
Chapter 1200 : 5
12/22/2014
