Korea's Semiconductor Layout Design Protection Act: The Road to Enactment
Translated Source Document
Korea's Semiconductor Layout Design Protection Act: The Road to Enactment
Translated by Corey Colling, Certified Korean to English Translator
Korean Source Text (원문)
반도체집적회로 배치법시행 추진경위
'86. 7.
일본 회로 보호법의 국내도입 검토 개시
'88. 7.
반도체 회로 보호법의 국내도입에 대하여 관계부처 협의
'90. 1.
관계기관 회의 결과 상공부가 입법을 주관하고 등록 업무는 특허청이 담당하는 것으로 합의
'90. 7.
반도체 회로 보호 법제 위원회(위원장 송상현교수)에서 법초안을 상고 제출
'91. 6.
행정에서 법률안 작성 및 입법예고
'91. 10.
법제처 심의 및 국무회의 통과
'91. 11.
국회제출 → 상위 소위에 계류중 13대 국회 폐회로 자동폐기
'92. 10.
정기국회 재제출 → 국회통과('92.11.10)
'92. 12.
법률 4526호로 공포('92.12.8)
'93. 5.
시행령(안)의 입법예고 및 관계부처 협의('93.5.21–6.10)
'93. 5.
법률시행에 대비한 특별세미나 개최(5.27, KIPO회의실 121명 참가)
'93. 8.
시행규칙(안)의 입법예고 및 관계부처 협의('93.8.2–8.12)
'93. 8.
제정 공포('93.8.31)
'93. 9.
법률시행 및 「반도체집적회로 배치계 등록실」 시운영('93.9.1) 및 시행규칙 공포('93.9.13)
Note: 시행 (시行) = enforcement / implementation; 추진경위 = legislative history / road to enactment
English Translation
Implementation Timeline of the Semiconductor Integrated Circuit Layout Design Protection Act
July 1986
Review begins of the Japanese Semiconductor Circuit Protection Act for possible domestic adoption.
July 1988
Inter-ministerial consultations held on domestic adoption of a semiconductor circuit protection law.
Jan 1990
Inter-agency meeting concludes that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry will lead the legislation, with KIPO responsible for registration.
July 1990
The Semiconductor Circuit Protection Legislation Committee (chaired by Professor Song Sang-hyun) submits its bill draft.
June 1991
Administrative drafting and legislative pre-notice issued.
Oct 1991
Reviewed by the Ministry of Government Legislation and passed by the State Council.
Nov 1991
Submitted to the National Assembly. Bill expires automatically when the 13th National Assembly is dissolved while still pending in subcommittee.
Oct 1992
Resubmitted to the regular session of the National Assembly. Passed November 10, 1992.
Dec 1992
Promulgated as Law No. 4526 on December 8, 1992.
May 1993
Enforcement Decree (draft) issued for legislative notice and inter-ministerial consultation (May 21 – June 10, 1993).
May 1993
Special seminar held in preparation for the law's implementation (May 27, KIPO conference room, 121 attendees).
Aug 1993
Enforcement Rules (draft) issued for legislative notice and inter-ministerial consultation (Aug 2 – Aug 12, 1993).
Aug 1993
Enforcement Rules promulgated on August 31, 1993.
Sept 1993
Law takes effect. The "Semiconductor Integrated Circuit Layout Design Registration Office" begins pilot operation on September 1, 1993. Enforcement Rules promulgated September 13, 1993.
Commentary
Sources:
특허와 상표 (Patent and Trademark), 제339호, September 20, 1993, p. 3. "반도체집적회로 배치법시행 추진경위" and "반도체집적회로의 배치설계에 관한 법률 시행규칙 제정이유 및 주요골자."
반도체집적회로의 배치설계에 관한 법률, Law No. 4526, promulgated December 8, 1992.
반도체집적회로의 배치설계에 관한 법률 시행령, Presidential Decree No. 13,972, promulgated August 31, 1993.
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The first registration filed under Korea's new Semiconductor Integrated Circuit Layout Design Protection Act covered a Samsung 16-megabit DRAM, designation KM23C16000B. The timing was not accidental. Samsung had begun mass-producing 16-megabit DRAMs only months earlier, and Korea's semiconductor industry was racing toward what would become its defining export. The law arrived just in time to protect the work.
Getting there took seven years.
The timeline above, translated from Issue No. 339 of 특허와 상표, reads like a study in legislative patience. KIPO began evaluating the question in July 1986, a year after the United States enacted its own Semiconductor Chip Protection Act and as Japan was finalizing its parallel statute. Inter-ministry consultations followed in 1988. By 1990, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry had been assigned to lead the legislative effort while KIPO would handle registration. A drafting committee chaired by Professor Song Sang-hyun of Seoul National University submitted the initial bill in mid-1990.
The first attempt at passage, in November 1991, died with the 13th National Assembly's adjournment. The bill was resubmitted and finally passed on November 10, 1992. The enforcement decree followed in August 1993, the enforcement rules a month later, and the registration office opened its doors on September 1, 1993.
What's striking, reading the contemporaneous account, is how carefully the regulatory architecture was constructed alongside the statute itself. The Enforcement Rules specified not only the registration forms and required attachments, but also computer file management procedures for sensitive layout data. Confidential layouts could be submitted in computer-formatted form to limit exposure. These details matter. Semiconductor layouts are valuable precisely because they are hard to reverse engineer, and a registration system that exposed them in the registration process itself would have undermined the law's entire purpose.
Korea's semiconductor IP framework was built deliberately, and built for the industry it was meant to serve. The first registered layout design was a 16-megabit DRAM. The system was ready for it.