The Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984 (The mask works act) protects masks, the stencils used in manufacturing semiconductor chips. The act gives a mask work owner "the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following: (1) to reproduce the mask work by optical, electronic, or any other means ... .

Thus the Mask Works Act, like the plug mold statute that was the subject of BONITO BOATS, INC. v. THUNDER CRAFT BOATS, INC. 489 U.S. 141 (1989), prohibits the use of a product to make copies of itself. It does not prohibit copying of the design of a chip, merely the exact layout.

Protection under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, on the other hand (Title V, the "Vessel Hull Design Protection Act,"), looks more like a trial run for a design patent act:

''The owner of a design protected under this chapter has the exclusive right to&emdash;

''(1) make, have made, or import, for sale or for use in trade, any useful article embodying that design; and

''(2) sell or distribute for sale or for use in trade any useful article embodying that design.

''§ 1309. Infringement

''(a) ACTS OF INFRINGEMENT.&emdash;Except as provided in subsection (b), it shall be infringement of the exclusive rights in a design protected under this chapter for any person, without the consent of the owner of the design, within the United States and during the term of such protection, to&emdash;

''(1) make, have made, or import, for sale or for use in trade, any infringing article as defined in subsection (e); or

...

''(e) INFRINGING ARTICLE DEFINED.&emdash;As used in this section, an 'infringing article' is any article the design of which has been copied from a design protected under this chapter, without the consent of the owner of the protected design.