Acceptance Criteria

The applicant for the registration of an integrated circuit layout design shall meet at least one of the following requirements: 

1. The layout design is created by a Chinese natural person, legal person, or other organization; 

2. The layout design is created by a foreigner and first commercially utilized within China; 

3. The layout design is created by a foreigner whose country of origin has signed a layout design protection agreement with China or jointly participated in an international treaty on layout design protection with China.

Access Channels

1. Acceptance Hall of the China National Intellectual Property Administration and acceptance windows of certain local intellectual property business  (patent agencies);

2. "Integrated Circuit Layout Design" section on the China National Intellectual Property Administration Government Service Platform (https://vlsi.cnipa.gov.cn/home.action);

3. Receiving by mail.

Application Documents

1. Required documents: One copy of the Application Form for Registration of Exclusive Rights in Integrated Circuit Layout Design, one copy of the layout design drawings, and one copy of the catalog of the drawings;

2. Documents that may need to be submitted: If the integrated circuit layout design has been commercially utilized before the filing date, four samples shall be provided at filing. If the applicant has entrusted an agency, the Power of Attorney for Registration of Integrated Circuit Layout Design shall also be submitted;

3. The applicant may also choose to submit the following documents optionally: a CD containing e-copies of the integrated circuit layout design drawings, and a brief description of the integrated circuit layout design.

Processing Procedures

1. Preparing the Application Form for Registration of Exclusive Rights in Integrated Circuit Layout Design and other application documents. Applicants can download the Application Form for Registration of Exclusive Rights in Integrated Circuit Layout Design from the "Form Downloads - Forms Related to Integrated Circuit" section under the "Government Service" column on the website of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (www.cnipa.gov.cn) and fill in the form. Preparing other documents: (1) For paper applications: 1) Drawings: including the general and layered drawings of the integrated circuit layout design, printed on A4 paper. In case there are multiple drawings, they shall be sequentially numbered; 2) Catalog of drawings: indicating the layer names of each drawing page; 3) Samples: the four submitted samples of integrated circuits shall be placed in a dedicated container, with a label on its surface indicating the applicant's name and the name of the integrated circuit layout design; 4) Brief description: explaining the structure, technology, functions, and other necessary matters of the integrated circuit layout design; 5) CD: containing electronic files of the integrated circuit layout design drawings. The applicant's name and the name of the integrated circuit layout design shall be indicated on the surface of the CD. (2) For online applications: 1) Drawings, catalog of drawings, power of attorney, and brief description; the corresponding files shall be prepared as graphic documents in the specified format. Then, multiple graphic documents of the same file category (e.g., drawings as one category, catalog as another category) that comply with the specified format shall be compressed into a single Zip file for upload. No folders shall be included in this Zip file. One Zip file shall be created for each file category. 2) Samples: Same as for paper applications, samples shall also be mailed to the Acceptance Division of the Patent Office of the China National Intellectual Property Administration. 3) CD: No CD is required for electronic applications.

2. Acceptance of application documents. Upon review by the China National Intellectual Property Administration, the examiner will issue a notice of acceptance if the submitted application documents meet the acceptance criteria, or a notice of non-acceptance if they fail to meet the criteria.

3. Review of application documents. For accepted integrated circuit layout designs, upon review by the China National Intellectual Property Administration, the examiner will issue a notice of fee payment if no formal defects are found, or a notice of amendment if formal defects are identified. The applicant shall submit amended documents within the specified time limit as required by the notice of amendment. If all defects are overcome through amendment, the examiner will issue a notice of fee payment. If the same defect in the case remains unqualified after multiple amendments, the examiner will issue a notice of rejection. If the applicant fails to respond within the time limit specified in the notice of amendment, the examiner will issue a notice of withdrawal.

4. Registration of layout designs. For integrated circuit layout designs that have passed the review and for which a notice of fee payment has been issued, the applicant shall pay a registration fee of 1,000 yuan within two months after receiving the notice of fee payment. After receiving the aforementioned fees, the China National Intellectual Property Administration will issue a Registration Certificate for Integrated Circuit Layout Designs. If the applicant fails to pay or pay in full the corresponding fees within the specified time limit, the examiner will issue a notice of withdrawal.