17 PART II LAYOUT DESIGNS OF INTEGRATED CIRCUITS Article 45 For the purpose of this Law, "integrated circuit" means a product, in its final form or an intermediate form, in which the elements, at least one of which is an active element, and some or all of the interconnections are integrally formed on a piece of isolating material and which is intended to perform a specific electronic function. Layout design means also the three dimensional disposition prepared for an integrated circuit intended for manufacturing. Article 46 Protection under this Law may be obtained for original layout designs of integrated circuits. A layout design shall be considered to be new if it is the result of its creator's own intellectual effort and is not part of the general knowledge common among professionals of the relevant industrial art. Nevertheless, a layout design consisting of elements that are part of the general knowledge common among professionals of the relevant industrial art shall also be considered new, if the combination of its components and their interconnections are in themselves original. Article 47 Protection shall not apply to any concept, process, technology or any coded information stored in the layout design of an integrated circuit. Article 48 The protection period of a layout design shall be ten years from the date when the application for the registration was filed in Egypt or ten years from the date when it was first commercially exploited in Egypt or abroad, whichever comes first In all cases, the protection of a layout design shall cease 15 years from the date of its creation. Article 49 Application for the registration with the Patent Office of a layout design shall be filed by its owner and shall be accompanied by a picture or a drawing and a sample of each integrated circuit that has been commercially exploited along with the information illustrating the electronic function of the integrated circuit.