6.2 Features of Providing Intellectual Property Rights …
525
the government will take measures to adopt proper legislation, and its citizens do
not take part in illegal reproduction of microcircuits. In fact, the US government
requires access to foreign government documents and reserves the right to criticize
legislation of other countries. Certain countries can consider it to be violation of their
own sovereignty.
Secondly, a long period of public comment delays entry of the protection into force
and makes it difficult to reach a consensus. Another reason to criticize Section 914
is its skewed nature. Essentially, Section 915 provides temporary protection to citizens of the countries in which governments do not provide US owners of industrial
designs with the same level of protection as their own citizens who are owners of
industrial designs. At the same time, foreign states are not obliged to provide protection to owners of industrial designs from the USA on the same grounds as the Act
in accordance with the requirements of Section 902; the state only needs to move
toward providing such protection. At the moment of adoption of Section 914, it
was supposed to be canceled in 1987; however, its term of effect was prolonged
until 1994. The purpose of Section 914 was to encourage rapid development of the
new international regime in the field of protection of semiconductor microcircuits.
Clearly, this goal was largely achieved.
Even though the protection was not granted in certain states, many developing
and industrial countries followed the example set by the USA in providing such
protection by means of their own national legislations.
6.3 Basics of Reverse-Engineering Art
6.3.1 Role and Place of Reverse Engineering
in the Semiconductor Industry
As noted above, one of the main requirements in any business is the need to know what
your competitors are doing. If any company wants to enter a new field of business,
the easiest thing to do is buy an existing product in the market and dismantle it to see
what is inside. By doing so, one can at least know the list of used components and
the main technical difficulties to be dealt with during production of a new version of
this product.
Therefore, RE is currently a generally recognized part of the competitive information fields and is usually used as a criterion for evaluation of the technical level of
products, as well as to support patenting and licensing activities of large corporations.
The secondary area of activity is microcircuit re-engineering in order to ensure their
safety and identify possible hardware Trojans.
In general case, several types (forms) of reverse engineering of products on
semiconductor production plants are identified:
525
the government will take measures to adopt proper legislation, and its citizens do
not take part in illegal reproduction of microcircuits. In fact, the US government
requires access to foreign government documents and reserves the right to criticize
legislation of other countries. Certain countries can consider it to be violation of their
own sovereignty.
Secondly, a long period of public comment delays entry of the protection into force
and makes it difficult to reach a consensus. Another reason to criticize Section 914
is its skewed nature. Essentially, Section 915 provides temporary protection to citizens of the countries in which governments do not provide US owners of industrial
designs with the same level of protection as their own citizens who are owners of
industrial designs. At the same time, foreign states are not obliged to provide protection to owners of industrial designs from the USA on the same grounds as the Act
in accordance with the requirements of Section 902; the state only needs to move
toward providing such protection. At the moment of adoption of Section 914, it
was supposed to be canceled in 1987; however, its term of effect was prolonged
until 1994. The purpose of Section 914 was to encourage rapid development of the
new international regime in the field of protection of semiconductor microcircuits.
Clearly, this goal was largely achieved.
Even though the protection was not granted in certain states, many developing
and industrial countries followed the example set by the USA in providing such
protection by means of their own national legislations.
6.3 Basics of Reverse-Engineering Art
6.3.1 Role and Place of Reverse Engineering
in the Semiconductor Industry
As noted above, one of the main requirements in any business is the need to know what
your competitors are doing. If any company wants to enter a new field of business,
the easiest thing to do is buy an existing product in the market and dismantle it to see
what is inside. By doing so, one can at least know the list of used components and
the main technical difficulties to be dealt with during production of a new version of
this product.
Therefore, RE is currently a generally recognized part of the competitive information fields and is usually used as a criterion for evaluation of the technical level of
products, as well as to support patenting and licensing activities of large corporations.
The secondary area of activity is microcircuit re-engineering in order to ensure their
safety and identify possible hardware Trojans.
In general case, several types (forms) of reverse engineering of products on
semiconductor production plants are identified: