Protecting Layout Designs on Printed Circuit Boards in China and Some Key Industrial Countries - New Regulatory Regime from a Law and Economics Perspective

Abstract

This article examines the position in China and a number of leading industrial jurisdictions under the regimes of copyright, patent and design and argues that there may be good grounds for conferring intellectual property (IP) protection in the layout designs in printed circuit boards (PCBs), as a form of <i>sui generis</i> IP right. In particular, this article addresses IP protection for PCBs in China, a major manufacturing-dependent developing jurisdiction. Local manufacturers in developing countries such as China may make pirated copies of PCBs that have been copied from foreign manufacturers and use the boards in locally and cheaply made electrical devices. Therefore, the issue of IP protection for PCBs is not only a doctrinal inquiry into the parameters of IP law but also an inquiry into the policy interests and the balance of interests between industrialized and developing countries.