Types of Patents and IP Rights: Chips Rights

For chips rights in the Netherlands you can file an application with the Netherlands Patent Office, a department of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency. An application for chips rights costs € 79. It is not necessary to pay any maintenance fees, as is necessary in patent law.

Requirements chips rights

The application form must contain a date of initial exploitation or a notice that initial exploitation is yet to take place. You may not file the application any later than 2 years after the date of initial exploitation.

Additional requirements are:

• Application form must be fully completed and signed
• A completed payment form must be accompanied by payment or payment method
• Drawing(s) must be supplied in duplicate.

Requirements for the drawings:

• In photographic form or as a diagram
• Clear so that the topography can be identified
• In A4 format (29.7 x 21 cm), is identifiable folded or unfolded, or rolled up, with a length of no more than 1,100 mm and a diameter of no more than 99 mm.

Sometimes parts of the drawing or image contain trade secrets. In addition to submitting a complete drawing or image, the applicant must then submit a copy upon which these parts have been covered and have been indicated as such. The identifiability of the topography must remain guaranteed.

Application

Applications for chips rights can be filed with our office. You will then receive a registration certificate. The application registration is then stated in the Hoofdblad publication and in the Register. In addition to submitting a copy of the semi-conductor product, you must also submit:

• application form
• payment form
• drawing(s) of the topography

The filing offers protection for:

• 10 years, calculated after the filing or initial exploitation, whichever is earliest
• 15 years, following creation of the topography if the application has not yet been filed or exploited

Missing details

If the applicant does not comply with the formal requirements, we will send him/her a missing details form to complete. In doing so, our office states the deadline by which the applicant must have completed the form (i.e. 60 days after the date of the missing details form).

Lapse of the application

The application will lapse in the event that:

• The application is cancelled by the holder.
• An application is not filed within 2 years after exploitation.
• The protection period has expired.

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