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

Nirmaan Designs combined well-known circuit elements and interconnections, all commonly known among layout creators and chip manufacturers, into a new arrangement through its own intellectual efforts. A reviewer says it cannot be original because every element is commonly known. Which view is correct under the Act?

The layout-design can be original. The Act provides that a combination of commonly known elements and interconnections is considered original if the combination as a whole is the result of the creator's own intellectual efforts. Individual elements need not be novel, so the reviewer's view is wrong.

  1. AThe reviewer is right; any commonly known element defeats originality
  2. BThe layout-design is original only if at least one element is novel on its own
  3. CThe layout-design is original if the combination taken as a whole is the result of the creator's own intellectual effortsCorrect
  4. DThe layout-design is original only if it has not been commercially exploited anywhere

Explanation

The proviso to the originality test says a combination of commonly known elements and interconnections is considered original if the combination taken as a whole results from the creator's own intellectual efforts. Commercial exploitation is a separate ground of refusal, and no element-level novelty is demanded.

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