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CS Professional · Intellectual Property Rights - Law and Practice · Layout-Designs of Integrated Circuits

Karthik Semiconductors files an application for a layout-design that was first sold commercially in Japan, a convention country, on 10 January 2022. The application is filed in India on 15 March 2025. Which statement is correct under Section 7 of the Act?

The layout-design is not registrable. Section 7(1)(b) bars designs commercially exploited in India or a convention country, and the two-year proviso protects only exploitation within two years before filing. A Japanese sale over three years before the March 2025 application falls outside that grace period.

  1. AIt is registrable, because exploitation outside India is irrelevant
  2. BIt is registrable, because the Registrar must ignore all exploitation older than one year
  3. CIt is not registrable, because exploitation in a convention country more than two years before filing is commercial exploitation barring registrationCorrect
  4. DIt is registrable only if Karthik pays an additional fee to condone the exploitation

Explanation

Section 7(1)(b) covers commercial exploitation anywhere in India or in a convention country. The two-year proviso runs from the filing date; the sale was over three years earlier, so the proviso does not help. Option one is wrong because convention-country exploitation counts.

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