A mask work is a two or three-dimensional layout of an integrated circuit (IC), i.e. the arrangement on a chip of semiconductor devices such as transistors and passive electronic components such as resistors and interconnections. By extension, it also refers to the intellectual property right conferring time-limited exclusivity to a particular layout. The layout is called a mask work because, in photolithographic processes, actual ICs are created from a mask, called the photomask. In law, particularly in common law jurisdictions, intellectual property or IP refers to a legal entitlement which sometimes attaches to the expressed form of an idea, or to some other intangible subject matter. ... For copyright issues in relation to Wikipedia itself, see Wikipedia:Copyrights. ... A geographical indication (sometimes abbreviated to GI) is a name or sign used on a particular product which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (eg. ... Industrial design rights are intellectual property rights that protect the visual design of objects that are not purely utilitarian. ... A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a person for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or substance (known as an invention) which is new, inventive and useful. ... A trademark (Commonwealth English: trade mark)[1] is a distinctive sign of some kind which is used by a business to identify itself and its products and services to consumers, and to set the business and its products or services apart from those of other businesses. ... A trade secret is a confidential practice, method, process, design, or other information used by a company to compete with other businesses. ... Sui generis is a (post) Latin expression, literally meaning of its own gender/genus or unique in its characteristics. ... Database rights are a form of exclusive right introduced by European Union Law to those countries which follow EU Law in 1997. ... Plant breeders rights, also known as plant variety rights (PVR), are intellectual property rights granted to the breeder of a new variety of plant. ... In European Union member countries, a supplementary protection certificate (SPC) is a sui generis, patent-like, intellectual property right. ... An s to digital microwave ovens. ... Semiconductor devices are electronic components that exploit the electronic properties of semiconductor materials, principally silicon, germanium and gallium arsenide. ... Through hole transistors (tape measure marked in centimeters) The transistor is a solid state semiconductor device which can be used for amplification, switching, voltage stabilization, signal modulation and many other functions. ... Two digital voltmeters The field of electronics is the study and use of electronic devices that operate by controlling the flow of electrons or other electrically charged particles in devices such as thermionic valves and semiconductors. ... Resistor symbols A resistor is a two-terminal electrical component that creates an electrical potential difference across its terminals that is proportional to the current passing through it. ... In law, particularly in common law jurisdictions, intellectual property or IP refers to a legal entitlement which sometimes attaches to the expressed form of an idea, or to some other intangible subject matter. ... Photolithography is a process used in semiconductor device fabrication to transfer a pattern from a photomask (also called reticle) to the surface of a substrate. ... As used in photolithography, a photomask is typically an optically transparent fused quartz blank imprinted with a pattern defined with chrome metal. ...

The United States Code defines a mask work as "a series of related images, however fixed or encoded, 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 in which the relation of the images to one another is such that each image has the pattern of the surface of one form of the semiconductor chip product" (17 USC § 901 (a) (2)). Mask work exclusive rights were first granted in the US by the Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984. In Canada these rights are protected under the Integrated Circuit Topography Act (1990, c. 37). Equivalent legislation exists in Australia and Hong Kong. The Integrated Circuit Topography Act (An Act to provide for the protection of integrated circuit topographies and to amend certain Acts in consequence thereof) is legislation passed by the Parliament of Canada in 1990 that regulates the intellectual property of integrated circuit topographies. ...

Mask work rights under US Law

According to 17 USC § 904 (http://www.bitlaw.com/source/17usc/904.html), semiconductor mask work monopolies last only ten years (in contrast to effectively perpetual terms for copyrighted works) and are not subject to any statutory fair use rights including the typical backup exemptions that 17 USC § 117 provides for computer software. Nevertheless, as fair use in true copyright was originally recognized by the judiciary before being codified in statute¹, it may one day be recognized in mask work protection as well. The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 extended copyright terms in the United States by 20 years. ...

The correct symbol used in a mask work's copyright notice is Ⓜ (M enclosed in a circle; Unicode code point U+24C2 or HTML numeric character entity Ⓜ) or *M*, not (M) in parentheses as some web browsers may render it. M is the thirteenth letter of the Latin alphabet. ... In computing, Unicode provides an international standard which has the goal of providing the means to encode the text of every document people want to store on computers. ... HTML 4. ...

Mask works, copyrights, and read-only memory

The exclusive right in a mask work is like a copyright, but it is technically not a copyright at all. Except in compound phrases such as "Copyright Office," the word "copyright" does not even appear in the relevant section of the U.S. Code. Mask work protection is characterized as a sui generis right. The exclusive rights granted to mask work owners are more limited than those granted to copyright holders (for instance, modification is not an exclusive right of mask work owners). However, the same Title grants both mask work rights and copyrights, and mask work rights share more in common with copyrights than with other exclusive rights such as patents or trademarks, so many analyses lump them with copyright, especially when they are used alongside copyright to protect a read-only memory (ROM) part that contains computer software. For copyright issues in relation to Wikipedia itself, see Wikipedia:Copyrights. ... Sui generis is a (post) Latin expression, literally meaning of its own gender/genus or unique in its characteristics. ... In law, an exclusive right, is the power or right to perform or chose whether to perform a certain action to the exclusion of all others. ... A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a person for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or substance (known as an invention) which is new, inventive and useful. ... A trademark (Commonwealth English: trade mark)[1] is a distinctive sign of some kind which is used by a business to identify itself and its products and services to consumers, and to set the business and its products or services apart from those of other businesses. ... Rom is also the name of a toy and comic book character Rom (Spaceknight). ...

The publisher of software for a cartridge-based video game console normally is granted three distinct monopolies: a trademark on the game's title and possibly other marks such as names of worlds and characters used in the game, a Form TX copyright on the program (registered by sending in source code) or a Form PA copyright on the visual displays generated by the work (depending on whether code or art dominates a program), and a Form MW "copyright" on the ROM that contains the binary. The lack of an exception analogous to the § 117 backup exception for copyrights means that Nintendo can go after sites that carry ROM dumps copyright 1994 or later, but ROM sites hosting mostly software for older consoles may fall under normal copyright law's fair use, library (17 USC § 108), and backup exemptions. Of course, if you have developed your own homebrew software for a console and have released it under a free software license, this doesn't apply. The Nintendo GameCube is an example of a video game console. ... A trademark (Commonwealth English: trade mark)[1] is a distinctive sign of some kind which is used by a business to identify itself and its products and services to consumers, and to set the business and its products or services apart from those of other businesses. ... The fair use doctrine is an aspect of United States copyright law that provides for the licit, non-licensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another authors work under certain, specifiable conditions. ... It has been suggested that Free Software Replacements be merged into this article or section. ...

However, there does exist an interpretation of the originality requirement of § 902(b) that may set the effective date for the expiry of mask work date based on the release of the console, not any particular cartridge.

(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

(17 USC 902, http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/902.html, as of February 2003).

Under this interpretation, a mask work containing a given game title is a minor variation of the mask work for the first title released for the console in the region, normally the cartridge included with the system. In the United States, this is Super Mario Bros. (NES), Tetris (Game Boy), Altered Beast (Sega Genesis), Super Mario World (Super NES), Mario's Tennis (Virtual Boy), Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64), or Super Mario Advance (Game Boy Advance). (This has not been tested in court to the knowledge of Wikipedia's editors.) 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, and also: The International Year of Freshwater The European Disability Year Events January events January 1 Luíz Inácio Lula Da Silva becomes the 37th President of Brazil. ... Super Mario Bros. ... Tetris on the Nintendo Game Boy Tetris is a computer puzzle game invented by Alexey Pajitnov in 1985, while he was working for the Academy of Sciences in Moscow, Russia. ... Altered Beast (獣王記 Jūōki, literally Beast Kings Chronicle, in Japan) is a 1988 arcade game developed and manufactured by Sega. ... Super Mario World (SMW) was the first game Nintendo made for the Super Famicom for its Japanese release, and the Super Nintendo for its release in North America and Europe. ... Marios Tennis is a game for Nintendos Virtual Boy video game console. ... Super Mario 64 was one of the first video games released for the Nintendo 64 and was the consoles flagship killer game. ... The Super Mario remake series was created by Nintendo as a program to modernize their games for the Game Boy system. ...

This could explain why Nintendo waited until lawmakers passed the DMCA and foreign counterparts before releasing a game console that used media other than cartridges. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a controversial United States copyright law. ... The WIPO Copyright Treaty, adopted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1996, provides additional protections for copyright deemed necessary in the modern information era. ...

1: In the specific case of backups as fair use, see House Report No. 94-1476 on § 117

International treaties

The Treaty on Intellectual Property in respect of Integrated Circuits, also called Washington Treaty or IPIC Treaty (signed at Washington on May 26, 1989) is currently not in force, but was partially integrated into TRIPs agreement. Aerial photo (looking NW) of the Washington Monument and the White House in Washington, DC. Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia (also known as D.C.; Washington; the Nations Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital city and administrative district of the United... May 26 is the 146th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (147th in leap years). ... 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) is an international agreement on the subject of intellectual property. It covers copyright, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, industrial designs, geographical indicia and integrated circuit layouts. ...

See also: Text of the Washington Treaty

See also

• Intellectual property
• Copyright
• Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs)