Limitation on exclusive rights: innocent infringement
+ 908. Registration of claims of protection
+ 909. Mask work notice
+ 910. Enforcement of exclusive rights
+ 911. Civil actions
+ 912. Relation to other laws
+ 913. Transitional provisions
+ 914. International transitional provisions
Section 901. Definitions
(a) As used in this chapter
(1) a "semiconductor chip product" is 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;
(2) 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;
(3) 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;
(4) to "distribute" means to sell, or to lease, bail, or otherwise
transfer, or to offer to sell, lease, bail, or otherwise transfer;
(5) to "commercially exploit" a mask work is to distribute to the public
for commercial purposes a semiconductor chip product embodying the mask
work; except that such term includes an offer to sell or transfer a
semiconductor chip product only when the offer is in writing and occurs
after the mask work is fixed in the semiconductor chip product;
(6) the "owner" of a mask work is the person who created the mask work,
the legal representative of that person if that person is deceased or
under a legal incapacity, or a party to whom all the rights under this
chapter of such person or representative are transferred in accordance
with section 903(b); except that, in the case of a work made within the
scope of a person's employment, the owner is the employer for whom the
person created the mask work or a party to whom all the rights under
this chapter of the employer are transferred in accordance with section
903(b);
(7) an "innocent purchaser" is a person who purchases a semiconductor
chip product in good faith and without having notice of protection with
respect to the semiconductor chip product;
(8) having "notice of protection" means having actual knowledge that, or
reasonable grounds to believe that, a mask work is protected under this
chapter; and
(9) an "infringing semiconductor chip product" is a semiconductor chip
product which is made, imported, or distributed in violation of the
exclusive rights of the owner of a mask work under this chapter.
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