Chip pirates: Beware the law: A new Federal statute is written to protect semiconductor chip designs; the law, however, contains ambiguities that have yet to be tested

In 1982 Intersil Inc., a California-based subsidiary of General Electric Co., sued Teledyne Semiconductor for copying analog-type semiconductor chips. Intersil felt that the copying was an infringement under copyright law; however, Teledyne countered that its actions were not illegal since it is not possible to copyright a useful article. Meanwhile, since the late 1970s Intel Corp. had disputes with at least three Japanese companies that had made close copies of its 8086 16-bit microprocessor chip. And Mostek Corp.'s 16-K MK4116 memory chip was copied by no fewer than 15 different companies.