IP/N/1/TTO/L/1

Trinidad and Tobago

Layout-Designs (Topographies) of Integrated Circuits Act 1996 (Act Nº 19 of 1996)

The Act protects layout-designs of integrated circuits against reproduction, importation, selling and other distribution and provides protection for layout-designs or integrated circuits which are original. The right to protection belongs to the creator, which right may be assigned or transferred even before the filing of an application. The period of protection runs for ten (10) years and the period begins either on the date on which the layout-design was first commercially exploited or if not, on the date of filing the application. The application for integrated circuits are filed with the Controller of the Intellectual Property Office appointed under S3 of the Patent Act 1996. The Act provides for the registration of layout-designs without examination of the originality of the design, the applicant's entitlement to protection or the correctness of the facts stated in the application. The Act further creates criminal offences of acts of knowingly preferring or performing without authorization prohibited in Clause 6.