WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
ORGANISATION MONDIALE DU COMMERCE
ORGANIZACIÓN MUNDIAL DEL COMERCIOIP/N/1/KGZ/L/1
30 July 1999
(99-3248)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual PropertyOriginal:  English/
anglais/
inglés
MAIN DEDICATED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWS AND
REGULATIONS NOTIFIED UNDER ARTICLE 63.2
OF THE AGREEMENT
KYRGYZ REPUBLIC
The present document reproduces the text1 of the Law on Legal Protection of Integrated
Circuits, of 31 March 1998, as notified by the Kyrgyz Republic under Article 63.2 of the Agreement
(see document IP/N/1/KGZ/1).
Conseil des aspects des droits de propriété
intellectuelle qui touchent au commerce
PRINCIPALES LOIS ET RÉGLEMENTATIONS CONSACRÉES À LA
PROPRIÉTÉ INTELLECTUELLE NOTIFIÉES AU TITRE
DE L'ARTICLE 63:2 DE L'ACCORD
RÉPUBLIQUE KIRGHIZE
Le présent document contient le texte1 de la Loi du 31 mars 1998 sur la protection juridique
des circuits intégrés, notifiée par la République kirghize au titre de l'article 63:2 de l'Accord (voir le
document IP/N/1/KGZ/1).
Consejo de los Aspectos de los Derechos de Propiedad
Intelectual relacionados con el Comercio
PRINCIPALES LEYES Y REGLAMENTOS DEDICADOS A LA PROPIEDAD
INTELECTUAL NOTIFICADOS EN VIRTUD DEL PÁRRAFO 2
DEL ARTÍCULO 63 DEL ACUERDO
REPÚBLICA KIRGUISA
En el presente documento se reproduce el texto1 de la Ley sobre la protección jurídica de los
circuitos integrados, de 31 de marzo de 1998, que la República Kirguisa ha notificado en virtud del
párrafo 2 del artículo 63 del Acuerdo (véase el documento IP/N/1/KGZ/1).
                                                     
1 In English only./En anglais seulement./En inglés solamente.IP/N/1/KGZ/L/1
Page 2
Bishkek
Of  March 31, 1998 # 29
LAW
OF THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC
On Legal Protection of Inte grated Circuits Topography
Article 1.  General Terms
General terms used in the present Law:
• integrated circuit (hereinafter, IC) is a micro-electronic article of complete or
interim form aimed at the execution of electronic scheme functioning, elements
and connections of which are inseparabl y formed in the volume and (or) on the
surface of the material on the basis of  which the article was manufactured;
• integrated circuits topogr aphy (hereinaft er, topography)  is a spatial geometric
arrangement of aggregate of integrated circuits elements fixed on the material
carrier and connections among them;
• use with commercial purposes  is the sale, lease or any other way of commercial
distribution as well as offer to perform these  actions.
 
 In the present Law the  right owner shall be understood as the author or his heir, and any
physical or legal entity who possesses exclusive proprietary rights acquired by virtue of the
Law or an agreement.
 
  Article 2.  Relationships Regulated by the present Law
 
 This Law shall regulate the re lationships connected with crea tion, legal protection and use of
topography.
 
 The State Intellectual Property Agency unde r the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic
(hereinafter - Kyrgyzpatent) shall provide the state regulation in the area of topographyprotection.
 
 Article 3.  Objects and Condi tions of Legal Protection
 
 Legal protection provided by this Law shall be extended to the original topography only.
 
 Topography shall be original if it is created in  the result of creative activity of the author.
Topography shall be recognized or iginal until otherwise is proved.
 
 Topography, the aggregate of elements of which is known to the elaborators and
manufacturers of IC as of the date of its crea tion shall not be given legal protection by this
Law.
 IP/N/1/KGZ/L/1
Page 3
 Topography consisting of elements, which are generally known to elaborators and
manufactures of IC as of the date of its crea tion shall be given legal protection only in case
the aggregate of such elements in general meets the requirements of paragraph 2 of the
present Article.
 
 Legal protection provided for in this Law sha ll not extend to ideas, methods, technologies or
coded information that may be embodied in topography.
 
 Article 4.  Authorsh ip to Topography
 
 Author of topography shall be a physical pers on by whose creative work this topography has
been made.
 
 If several physical persons created topography, e ach of them shall be recognized as the author
of such topography.
 
 Physical persons who have not contributed  personal creative input in the creation of
topography but who have rendered the author only technical, organizational or financial
assistance or have facilitated the pe rfection of right to use topography.
 
 Right of authorship to topography shall be unalienable personal non-pr operty right and shall
be protected by the Law without time limits.
 
 Article 5.  Economic Rights
 
 The author or other right owner shall have an exclusive right to use this topography at his
discretion in particular by the way of ma nufacture and distribution of IC with such
topography including the right to prohibit the us e of this topography to other persons without
relevant permission, except for the cases provided for in Article 8 of this Law.
 
 The procedure for using of the rights belongin g to several authors of topography or other
right owners shall be determined in the agreement between them.
 
 Should no agreement be achieved, each of them may use the prot ected object at his
discretion, but has no right to pr ovide a contract on full assignme nt of all economic rights to
registered topography without the consent of othe r right owners.  In case of failure to achieve
an agreement between the right owners on conc luding a contract on full assignment of all
economic rights the court may settle the dispute between them.
 
 Infringement of the exclusive right to use topography shall be accomplishment of the
following actions without authorization of  the author or any other right owner:
• copying of topography in whole or in part by way of its inclusion in IC or in any
other way, with the exception of copying only the part which is not original;
• use, importing, offer to sale, sale and other introduction into business turnover of
topography or IC with this topography.
 IP/N/1/KGZ/L/1
Page 4
 Article 6.  Assignment of Economic Rights
 
 Economic rights to topography may be assigned in  full or in part to other physical or legal
entities under the agreement.
 
 The agreement shall be formalized in writin g and must contain the following conditions:
volume of the rights transferred, ways of us e of topography, payment order, the amount of
remuneration, territory and the effective term of agreement.
 
 Agreement on the assignment of economic rights or licensing agreement for the registered
topography shall be registered at Kyrgyzpatent.
 
 Agreement on the transfer of economic rights  to topography shall not be valid without
registration at Kyrgyzpatent.
 
 Economic rights to topography shall succeed by heritage in the order established by the Law.
 
 Article 7.  Economic Rights to Topography  Created in the Course of Execution of
Service Duties and under the Contract with the Customer
 
 Economic right to topography created in the course of executing service duties or specific
tasks of the employer shall belong to the employer, unless otherwise provided for in the
agreement between him and the author.
 
 The procedure of payment and the amount of re muneration shall be stated by the agreement
between the author and the employer.
 
 Economic rights to topography created by the author under the contract with the customer
other than his employer shall belong to th e customer unless otherwise provided in the
contract.
 
 Article 8.  Actions Not Recogni zed as Infringement of the Exclusive Right to the Use of
 Topography
 
 Following shall not be recognized the infringement of exclusive right to exploitation of
topography:
• use of lawfully purchased IC or articles containing such IC if the person using
them did not know or was not to know that these IC or articles containing such IC
were manufactured and distributed with infringement of exclusive right to use of
topography.  After receipt of the appropr iate notification from the right owner of
topography this person shall pay commensurate compensation for each IC or eacharticle containing such IC;
• use in personal interests without gene rating profits and with the purpose of
evaluation, analysis, research or training;
• distribution of IC with protected topogr aphy introduced into business turnover by
lawful means.IP/N/1/KGZ/L/1
Page 5
 No infringement of exclusive right to use of  topography shall be actions indicated in
paragraphs 4 of Article 5 of the present Law executed in relation to identical originaltopography independently, cr eated by another author.
 
 Article 9.  Registration of Topography
 
 The author of topography or other right ow ner at his discretion may register topography
directly or through his representative at Kyrgyzpatent by filing an application for officialregistration of IC topography (herei nafter, application for registration).
 
 Filing of the application for registration ca n be performed during the period not exceeding
two years from the date of first use of topography if it took place.
 
 Application for registration must concern on e topography and shall contain the following:
• application for official regi stration of IC topography with indication of the right
owner and the author if he did not refuse  to be mentioned as such, their place of
location (place of residence), date of th e first use of topography if it took place;
• deposited materials, identifying topography, including;
      the novelty of topography  shall be indicated in the essay;
• scheme of dimensiona l and geometrical disposition of  elements of IC topography;
• the document confirming payment of registration fee in the established amount or
grounds for exemption from the payment of registration fee and also for reduction
of its amount.
Kyrgyzpatent shall determine other requirements to the doc uments of application for
registration.
After receipt of the application for registrati on Kyrgyzpatent shall check the availability of
necessary documents and their compliance with the requirements set forth in paragraph 3 of
the present Article. During two months after filing the application with Kyrgyzpatent theapplicant has the right to add, clarify a nd correct documents of the application.
Examination of application shall be performed within 6 months.
In case of positive results of examination, Kyrg yzpatent shall enter the topography into the
State register of integrated circuits topogra phy of the Kyrgyz Republic, publish information
on registered topography in the official bulletin of Kyrgyzpatent and issue a certificate ofofficial registration of topography to the applicant.
t. Kyrgyzpatent therein shall establish the procedure of official registration, form of
certificate on official registrati on, composition of the specified da ta.  Kyrgyzpatent shall also
determine the list of data published in the official bulletin.
The information entered into the State register of topographies of integrated circuits of the
Kyrgyz Republic shall be considered authentic until otherwise proved.
Liability for authenticity of the indicated information shall be with the applicant.IP/N/1/KGZ/L/1
Page 6
Registration fees shall be collected for carrying out actions connected with the official
registration of integrated circuits topography, agreements on the transfer of rights andpublication of the information.
The Government of the Kyrgyz Republic sh all establish amounts, terms of payment of
registration fees and grounds for exem ption from payment or their reduction.
All money resources coming to the Kyrgyzpatent’s  account as fees, including those in foreign
currency are used by the Kyrgyzpatent for covering expenses connected with carrying outactivities envisaged by the present article, and also for creating, equipping and using anautomated system, training and motivating the staff.
The author of topography or his legal succe ssor shall have the right to indicate in the
protected topography and articles including such  topography a notification thereof in the form
of letter T («T», [T], T, T* or T) in order to inform about his rights, da te of start of validity
period of the exclusive right to  use of topography and information which allows to identify
the right owner.
Article 10. Effective Term of Ex clusive Right to Use Topography
Exclusive right to use of topography shall be valid for ten years.
The start of validity period of exclusive righ t for use of topography shall be defined on
earliest of the following dates:
• on the date of the first use of topograp hy, which means the earliest documentarily
fixed date of introduction of this topog raphy or IC with this topography into
economic turnover somewhere in the world;
• on the date of registration of topography at Kyrgyzpatent;
 In case of appearance of identical original topography independently created by another
author, total validity period of exclusive righ t for exploitation of topography may not exceed
ten years.
 
 Article 11.  Protection of  Rights to Topography
 
 The author of topography and other righ t owner shall have the right to demand:
• recognition of rights;
• restoration of the situation existent before infringement of the right and cessation
of actions infringing the right or threatening to infringe it;
• reimbursement of losses the amount of  which also includes the amount of
revenues unlawfully obtained by the infringer;
• besides indemnification of inflicted losses the court may rule to impose a fine in
the amount of 10% of the amount ruled by th e court in favor of the plaintiff to the
budget of the Kyrgyz Republic;
• adoption of other measures connected with  the protection of their rights provided
by normative legal acts;
The author or other right owner may apply to  the court by the established procedure for
protection of his right.IP/N/1/KGZ/L/1
Page 7
In addition to covering losses the court may take  a decision to charge a fine of 10% of the
amount awarded to the plaintiff by the court, to  the revenue of the state budget of the Kyrgyz
Republic.
The court may render a ruling on confiscation of illegally manufactured copies of IC and
articles including such IC, as well as materials and equipment used for manufacture thereofand on destruction thereof or transfer to the bud get of the Kyrgyz Republic or to the plaintiff
at his request as inde mnification of losses.
Article 12.  Protection of Rights to Topography in Foreign Countries
The author or other right owner may seek fo r legal protection of topography in foreign
countries after registration of the corresponding application at Kyrgyzpatent.  Noncompliance
with this provision shall entail the liability envisaged by the legislation of the KyrgyzRepublic.
Expenses related to obtaining legal protection of topographies in foreign countries shall be
with the person seeking for such protection or  other natural person or legal entity by the
agreement with him.
Article 13. Rights of Foreign Natural Person s and Legal Entities
Foreign physical persons and legal entities shall enjoy the rights envisaged by the present
Law equally with natural persons and legal entities of the Kyrgyz Republic by virtue of
international treaties of the Kyrgyz Republic  or on the basis of reciprocity principle.
Article 14.  Intern ational Treaties
If the international treaty of the Kyrgyz Republic establishes rules other than those that are
included into the present Law the rules of the international treaty shall be applied.
Article 15. Implementation  of the present Law
1.    The law shall come into force since the moment of its publication. (“Erkin Too – Free
Mountains”, April 10, 1998, # 43-44)
2.  The :Law of the Kyrgyz Republic «On Le gal Protection of In tegrated Circuits
Topography» extends to relations connected w ith creation and use of integrated circuits
topographies, which appeared after implementation of the present Law.
    The present Law shall be valid to re lations which appeared before publication of
the present  Law in case the integrated circuits topography have been registered  atKyrgyzpatent for two years since the da te of publication of the present Law.
3.  The Government of the Kyrgyz Republic shall be authorized to bring to compliance all
normative acts and regulations with the present Law.IP/N/1/KGZ/L/1
Page 8
The President of the Kyrgyz Republic A. Akaev
Adopted by the Legislative Assembly of
Jogorku Kenesh of the Kyrgyz Republic March 2, 1998
__________