In the case of published works, copyright continues to subsist for 50 years after the death of the author. In the case of unpublished works, copyright subsists for 50 years after the date of the first publication of the work. Fisher Adams Kelly give advice on copyright as it relates to the protection of intellectual property. The Circuit Layouts Act is a very specific piece of legislation aimed at providing protection to owners against the copying of their circuit layout. A circuit layout is a representation in any material form of a 3D location of the elements and interconnections of an integrated circuit.
Owners have exclusive rights, including the copying and exploitation of the layout.
However, innocent commercial exploitation and reverse engineering are not an infringement under the Circuit Layouts Act. The duration of protection is for a term of 10 years from when the layout was made, or 10 years after first commercial exploitation. Fisher Adams Kelly give advice on circuit layouts as it relates to the protection of intellectual property. Return to top Plant Variety Rights Plant Variety Rights give the owner the exclusive license to sell or produce, or license others to sell or produce, a new plant variety. To be a registrable plant variety under the Plant Breeder s Rights Act, the plant variety must be homogenous having regard to the particular features of its sexual reproduction or vegetable propagation.