U.S.A. Copyright Law, Library of Congress. Copyright Office [reading diary TXT] 📗

>determination of reasonable terms and rates of royalty payments as

provided in section 118, the Librarian of Congress shall proceed when

and as provided by that section.

(d) With respect to proceedings under section 801(b)(3) or (4),

concerning the distribution of royalty fees in certain circumstances

under section 111, 116, 119, or 1007, the Librarian of Congress shall,

upon a determination that a controversy exists concerning such

distribution, cause to be published in the Federal Register notice of

commencement of proceedings under this chapter.

Chapter 8 Endnotes

1 The Copyright Royalty Tribunal Reform Act of 1993 amended chapter 8

by substituting a new chapter title heading and by repealing sections

803 and 805 through 810. Pub. L. No. 103-198, 107 Stat. 2304, 2308.

2 In 1986, section 801(b) was amended in paragraph (2)(A) by inserting

"111(d)(1)(B)" in lieu of "111(d)(2)(B)," wherever it appeared. Pub. L.

No. 99-397, 100 Stat. 848. The Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1988 amended

section 801(b)(3) by substituting ", 116 and 119(b)" in lieu of "and

116." Pub. L. No. 100-667, 102 Stat. 3935, 3949, 3958. The Copyright

Royalty Tribunal Reform Act of 1993 amended section 801 by giving it a

new heading, by amending subsection (a) in its entirety, by making

conforming amendments throughout subsection (b), by amending the first

sentence of subsection (c) and by adding subsection (d). Pub. L. No.

103-198, 107 Stat. 2304. In 1997, section 801 was amended by inserting

"119" in the first sentence of subsection (b)(1), by adding paragraphs

(1) and (2) of subsection (c) and by amending subsection (d) in its

entirety. Pub. L. No. 105-80, 111 Stat. 1529, 1533. In 1998, the Digital

Millennium Copyright Act amended the first sentence of section 801(b) by

inserting "114(f)(1)(B)" in lieu of "114." Pub. L. No. 105-304, 112

Stat. 2860, 2902.

3 The Copyright Royalty Tribunal Reform Act of 1993 amended section 802

in its entirety. Pub. L. No. 103-198, 107 Stat. 2304, 2305. In 1997,

section 802(h)(1) was amended in its entirety. Pub. L. No. 105-80, 111

Stat. 1529.

In 1998, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act amended section 802 as

follows: 1) in subsection (c), by inserting in the third sentence "any

transmitting organization entitled to a statutory license under section

112(f)" after "section 111, 112, 114, 116, and 119"; 2) in subsection

(f), by inserting "90" in lieu of "60" in the first sentence and "an

additional 30-day period" in lieu of "that additional 60 day period" in

the third sentence; 3) in subsection (g), by adding the third sentence,

which begins "When this title provides that the royalty rates" and by

inserting "112" after "111"; and 4) by inserting "112" after "111" in

subsection (h)(2). Pub. L. No. 105-304, 112 Stat. 2860, 2902.

4 See title 37, Chapter II, of the Code of Federal Regulations.

5 The Copyright Royalty Tribunal Reform Act of 1993 redesignated

section 804 as section 803 and amended the newly designated section 803

in its entirety. Pub. L. No. 103-198, 107 Stat. 2304, 2307. In 1995, the

Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act amended section 803(a)

by adding paragraph (5) and by making conforming amendments throughout

chapter 8. Pub. L. No. 104-39, 109 Stat. 336, 349. In 1998, the Digital

Millennium Copyright Act amended section 803(a) by inserting "112"

before "114" in paragraphs (1) and (5) and by substituting "those

sections" in lieu of "that section" in paragraph (5). Pub. L. No.

105-304, 112 Stat. 2860, 2902.

Chapter 9 [1]

Protection of Semiconductor Chip Products

Definitions Subject matter of protection Ownership, transfer, licensure, and recordation [2] Duration of protection Exclusive rights in mask works Limitation on exclusive rights: reverse engineering; first sale Limitation on exclusive rights: innocent infringement Registration of claims of protection Mask work notice Enforcement of exclusive rights Civil actions Relation to other laws Transitional provisions 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.

(b) For purposes of this chapter, the distribution or importation of a

product incorporating a semiconductor chip product as a part thereof is

a distribution or importation of that semiconductor chip product.

Section 902. Subject matter of protection [3]

(a)(1) Subject to the provisions of subsection (b), a mask work fixed in

a semiconductor chip product, by or under the authority of the owner of

the mask work, is eligible for protection under this chapter if-

(A) on the date on which the mask work is registered under section 908,

or is first commercially exploited anywhere in the world, whichever

occurs first, the owner of the mask work is (i) a national or

domiciliary of the United States, (ii) a national, domiciliary, or

sovereign authority of a foreign nation that is a party to a treaty

affording protection to mask works to which the United States is also a

party, or (iii) a stateless person, wherever that person may be

domiciled;

(B) the mask work is first commercially exploited in the United States;

or

(C) the mask work comes within the scope of a Presidential proclamation

issued under paragraph (2).

(2) Whenever the President finds that a foreign nation extends, to mask

works of owners who are nationals or domiciliaries of the United States

protection (A) on substantially the same basis as that on which the

foreign nation extends protection to mask works of its own nationals and

domiciliaries and mask works first commercially exploited in that

nation, or (B) on substantially the same basis as provided in this

chapter, the President may by proclamation extend protection under this

chapter to mask works (i) of owners who are, on the date on which the

mask works are registered under section 908, or the date on which the

mask works are first commercially exploited anywhere in the world,

whichever occurs first, nationals, domiciliaries, or sovereign

authorities of that nation, or (ii) which are first commercially

exploited in that nation. The President may revise, suspend, or revoke

any such proclamation or impose any conditions or limitations on

protection extended under any such proclamation.

(b) Protection under this chapter shall not be available for a mask work

that-

(1) is not original; or

(2) consists of designs that are staple, commonplace, or familiar in the

semiconductor industry, or variations of such designs, combined in a way

that, considered as a whole, is not original.

(c) In no case does protection under this chapter for a mask work extend

to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept,

principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is

described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work.

Section 903. Ownership, transfer, licensing, and recordation

(a) The exclusive rights in a mask work subject to protection under this

chapter belong to the owner of the mask work.

(b) The owner of the exclusive rights in a mask work may transfer all of

those rights, or license all or less than all of those rights, by any

written instrument signed by such owner or a duly authorized agent of

the owner. Such rights may be transferred or licensed by operation of

law, may be bequeathed by will, and may pass as personal property by the

applicable laws of intestate succession.

(c)(1) Any document pertaining to a mask work may be recorded in the

Copyright Office if the document filed for recordation bears the actual

signature of the person who executed it, or if it is accompanied by a

sworn or official certification that it is a true copy of the original,

signed document. The Register of Copyrights shall, upon receipt of the

document and the fee specified pursuant to section 908(d), record the

document and return it with a certificate of recordation. The

recordation of any transfer or license under this paragraph gives all

persons constructive notice of the facts stated in the recorded document

concerning the transfer or license.

(2) In any case in which conflicting transfers of the exclusive rights

in a mask work are made, the transfer first executed shall be void as

against a subsequent transfer which is made for a valuable consideration

and without notice of the first transfer, unless the first transfer is

recorded in accordance with paragraph (1) within three months after the

date on which it is executed, but in no case later than the day before

the date of such subsequent transfer.

(d) Mask works prepared by an officer or employee of the United States

Government as part of that person's official duties are not protected

under this chapter, but the United States Government is not precluded

from receiving and holding exclusive rights in mask works transferred to

the Government under subsection (b).

Section 904. Duration of protection

(a) The protection provided for a mask work under this chapter shall

commence on the date on which the mask work is registered under section

908, or the date on which the mask work is first commercially exploited

anywhere in the world, whichever occurs first.

(b) Subject to subsection (c) and the provisions of this chapter, the

protection provided under this chapter to a mask work shall end ten

years after the date on which such protection commences under subsection