IPC New Release: IPC-1072 Intellectual Property Protection in Electronic Assembly Manufacturing

The purpose of the IPC-1072 standard is to provide requirements and best practices for EMS companies to ensure protection of intellectual property for their customers. By using this standard, EMS companies can provide their customers assurance that the intellectual property built into their circuit boards is protected. The document is also a companion to IPC-1071 for printed circuit board manufacturers.

IPC-1072 Intellectual Property Protection in Electronic Assembly Manufacturing

Purpose
The purpose of this standard is to assist printed circuit board assemblers in development of requirements for the protection of intellectual property (IP) for their customers in commercial, industrial and military and other high-reliability markets. This standard focuses on protection of the inherent IP designed into the printed board (PB) such that IP flows from the customer to the PB assemblers and that IP that is incorporated into the PB is protected. Patents and other such ‘‘forever protection’’ of the manufactured product is beyond the scope of this document.

This standard is not intended to be a legal guide. Please consult an attorney for questions of a legal nature

Levels of IP Protection
This standard recognizes that electrical and electronic products are subject to classification by
intended end-item use. Additionally, different manufacturers and or customers may desire different levels of IP protection. Three levels of IP protection have been established to reflect the differences in IP protection (see 1.3.1 through 1.3.3).

Preview the table of contents .pdf file.

ISBN:978-1-61193-225-6, Developed by the EMS Intellectual Property Subcommittee (E-21) of the Intellectual Property Standard Committee (E-20) of IPC. Users of this publication are encouraged to participate in the development of future revisions.