半導體칩 保護에 關한 法理的 考察

I. Introduction The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (H.R. 5525) to amend title 17, United States Code, to protect mask works of semiconductor chips against unauthorized duplication, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report, by voice vote, a quorum being present, no objection being heard, favorably thereon with amendments and recommend that the bill as amended do pass. The amendments are shown in the reported bill, with the matter proposed to be stricken shown in linetype and the matter proposed to be inserted shown in italic type. Ⅱ. Purpose of the Legislation The purpose of the legislation is to protect semiconductor chip products in such a manner as to reward creativity, encourage innovation, research and investiment in the semiconductor industry, prevent piracy, while at the same time protecting the public. Ⅲ. Background In about 500 B.C., the Greek philospher Heraclitus observed that nothing endures but change. More recently, a noted legal historian has noted: Change is one of the few things men can be certain of. The proof of these statements is their truth today. In our age, however, technology has accelerated the pace of change far beyond what anyone might have dreamed. It is easy to forget that the movie industry is only about seventy years old; the television industry is reaching its fourth decade; and the semiconductor industry is in comparison a mere infant. The information society-no longer an idea, but reality today-had its origins in 1956-1959. Integrated circuits, better known as semiconductor chips, have revolutionized our entire way of life. Semiconductor chips are used to operate microwave ovens, cash registers, personal and business computers, TV sets, refrigerators, hi-fi equipment, automobile engine controls, automatic machine tools, robots, printing presses, cardiac monitors and pacemakers, X-ray imaging and scanning equipment, blood testing equipment, word processors and printers, telephones, and many other medical, consumer, business, and industrial products. New and better uses for chips are emerging regularly and society is rewarded with a corresponding enhancement of life. More than perhaps any other invention, the semiconductor chip has brought us into the information age. The fundamental shift from an industrial to an informational society is no longer just a prediction but is a reality. The majority of the American workforce is engaged not in the production of goods but in the creation, processing and distribution of information. Expanding informaton technology, from computers to satellites, from television to teletype, ensures that we will become even more of an information society in the future. The semiconductor chip is at the vortex of this new society. A semiconductor chip is typically much smaller than a finger-nail. Yet a single chip may contain over 100,000 transistors photographically etched and deposited on a silicon wafer. Fitting these transistors into that small space, placing them so that the resulting device operates effeciently and economically, is a fine art and also a costly one. The lay out/design process and the preparation of the photographic “mask” used to etch, deposit layers on, and otherwise process the chip often take the innovating chip firm years, consume thousands of hours of engineer and technician time, and cost millions of dollars. The development costs for a single new chip can reach $100 million. Ⅳ. Section-by-Section Analysis Section 1 Section 1 of the bill sets forth the bill’s short title: “The Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984.” Section2 Section 2 amends title 17 of the United States Code by adding a new chapter 9 at the end thereof. The new chapter is not a part of the Copyright Act, chapters 1-8 of title 17. Instead, the new chapter creates a sui generis form of intellectual property right, similar in many respects to existing copyright law but differing from copyright law