WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
ORGANISATION MONDIALE DU COMMERCE
ORGANIZACIÓN MUNDIAL DEL COMERCIOIP/N/1/CHN/L/1/Rev.1
13 October 2003
(03-5386)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property RightsOriginal:  English/
anglais/
inglés
MAIN DEDICATED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
LAWS AND REGULATIONS NOTIFIED UNDER
ARTICLE 63.2 OF THE AGREEMENT
CHINA
Revision
The present document reproduces a corrected translation of the text1 of the Regulations on the
Protection of Layout-Designs of Integrated Circuits , as notified by China under Article 63.2 of the Agreement
(see document IP/N/1/CHN/1).  This text replaces the one distributed in document IP/N/1/CHN/L/1.
Conseil des aspects des droits de propriété
intellectuelle qui touchent au commerce
PRINCIPALES LOIS ET RÉGLEMENTATIONS CONSACRÉES À LA
PROPRIÉTÉ INTELLECTUELLE NOTIFIÉES AU TITRE
DE L'ARTICLE 63:2 DE L'ACCORD
CHINE
Révision
Le présent document contient une traduction corrigée du texte1 du Règlement sur la protection des
schémas de configuration de circuits intégrés, qui a été notifié par la Chine au titre de l'article 63:2 de l'Accord(voir le document IP/N/1/CHN/1).  Ce texte remp lace celui qui a été distribué dans le document
IP/N/1/CHN/L/1.
Consejo de los Aspectos de los Derechos de Propiedad
Intelectual relacionados con el Comercio
PRINCIPALES LEYES Y REGLAMENTOS DEDICADOS A LA
PROPIEDAD INTELECTUAL NOTIFICADOS EN VIRTUD
DEL PÁRRAFO 2 DEL ARTÍCULO 63 DEL ACUERDO
CHINA
Revisión
En el presente documento se reproduce una traducción corregida del texto1 del Reglamento sobre la
protección de los esquemas de trazado (topografías) de  los circuitos integrados, que China ha notificado en
virtud de lo dispuesto en el párrafo 2 del artículo 63 del Acuerdo (véase el documento IP/N/1/CHN/1).El presente texto sustituye al distribuido en el documento IP/N/1/CHN/L/1.
                                                     
1 In English only.  The text in the original language w ill be available for consultation by interested Delegations at
the WTO Secretariat./En anglais seulement.  Les délégations intéressées pourront consulter le texte, dans sa langue d'origine,au Secrétariat de l'OMC./En inglés solamente.  Las delegaciones interesadas podrán consultar en la Secretaría de la OMC el
texto en su idioma original.IP/N/1/CHN/L/1/Rev.1
Page 2
Regulations on the Protection of Layout-Designs of Integrated Circuits
(Adopted at the 36th executive meeting of the state council on march 28, 2001, promulgated by decree no.
300 of the state council of the people’s republic of ch ina on april 2, 2001, and effective as of the date of
october 1, 2001)
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 These Regulations are formulated in order to protect the exclusive rights of layout-designs
of integrated circuits, encourage innovation of integrated circuit technologies and promote development ofscience and technology.
Article 2  For the purposes of these Regulations,
    (1)“integrated circuit” means semiconductor integrated circuit, that is, a product,  in its
intermediate or final form, in which semiconductor is used as its chip, the elements, at least one of
which is an active element, and some or all of the interconnections are integrally formed in and/or on
the chip and which is intended to perform an electronic function;
   (2) “layout-design of integrated  circuit”(hereinafter referred to as layout-design) means the three-
dimensional disposition of the elements, at least one of which is an active element, and some or all of the
interconnections of an integrated circuit, or such a three-dimensional disposition prepared for an integrated
circuit intended for manufacture;
    (3) “right holder of layout-design” means the natural person, the legal person or any other
organization that, according to these Regulations, is entitled to the exclusive right of layout-design;
    (4) “reproduction” means the act of reproducing a layout-design or of  reproducing an integrated
circuit in which the layout-design is incorporated;
    (5) “commercial exploitation” means the act of importing, selling or providing in any other form,
for commercial purposes, a protected layout-design, an integrated circuit in which the layout-design is
incorporated, or an article incorporating such an integrated circuit.
Article 3 Any layout-design created by a Chinese natural person, legal person or other
organization shall be accorded the exclusive rights of layout-design in accordance with these
Regulations.IP/N/1/CHN/L/1/Rev.1
Page 3
    Any layout-design created by a foreigner shall, where it is first commercially exploited in the
territory of the People’s Republic of China, be accorded the exclusive rights of layout-design in
accordance with these Regulations.
    Any layout-design created by a foreigner shall be accorded the exclusive rights of layout-design in
accordance with these Regulations, if the country to which the foreigner belongs has concluded an
agreement with China to protect layout-design or the country to which the foreigner belongs andChina are both parties to an international treaty concerning the protection of layout-design.
Article 4 Any layout-design under protection shall be original, that is, the layout-design is the
intellectual achievement of the creator himself, and it is not commonplace among creators of layout-designs and manufacturers of integrated circuit at the time of its creation.
Where a layout-design under protection consists of several commonplace layout-designs, the
combination of these layout-designs taken as a whole shall be in compliance with the conditionsreferred to in the preceding paragraph.
Article 5 Protection to layout-designs under these Regulations shall not extend to ideas,
processing methods, operations and mathematics concepts.
Article 6  The intellectual property administration department of the State Council is responsible
for the relevant administrative work concerning the exclusive rights of layout-designs in accordance
with these Regulations.
Chapter II Exclusive Rights of Layout-designs
Article 7 The right holder of a layout-design shall enjoy the following exclusive rights:
    (1) reproducing the protected layout-design in its entirety or for any creative part thereof;
    (2) commercially exploiting the protected layout-design, an integrated circuit in which the layout-
design is incorporated, or an article incorporating such an integrated circuit.
Article 8 The exclusive rights of layout-designs take effect upon their registration with the
intellectual property administration department of the State Council.
Any unregistered layout-design shall not be protected under these Regulations.Article 9  The exclusive rights of layout-designs shall belong to their creators, except as
otherwise provided for in these Regulations.IP/N/1/CHN/L/1/Rev.1
Page 4
    Where a layout-design is created according to the will and under the charge of a legal person or
other organization, which shall also bear responsibility therefrom, such legal person or other
organization shall be the creator.
    Where a layout-design is created by a natural person, the natural person shall be the creator.
Article 10 Where a layout-design is created by the cooperating efforts of two or more natural
persons, legal persons or other organizations, the ownership of the exclusive rights shall be agreedupon by the co-operators; in absence of such an agr eement or explicit agreement, the exclusive rights
shall be owned jointly by the co-operators.
Article 11 Where a layout-design is created in execution of a commission, the ownership of the
exclusive rights shall be agreed upon between the commissioning and the commissioned parties; in
absence of such an agreement or explicit agreement, the exclusive rights shall be owned by the
commissioned party.
Article 12 The protection term of the exclusive rights of layout-designs shall be 10 years,
counting from the date of filing the application for registration or from the date on which it is first
commercially exploited anywhere in the world, whichever expires earlier. However, no matterwhether it has been registered or commercially exploited, a layout-design shall no longer be protected
under these Regulations at the expiration of 15 years from the date of the completion of its creation.
Article 13 Where the exclusive rights of a layout-design belong to a natural person, the exclusive
rights shall, after the death of the natural person and within the term of protection as provided for in
these Regulations, be transferred in accordance with the provisions of the Succession Law.
    Where the exclusive rights of a layout-design belong to a legal person or other organization, the
exclusive rights shall, after the change or the termination of the legal person or other organization and
within the term of protection as provided for in  these Regulations, be owned by the legal person or
other organization which succeeds to its rights and obligations; where there is no such a legal personor other organization to succeed to its rights and obligations, the layout-design shall enter into public
ownership.
Chapter III Registration of Layout-design
Article 14 The intellectual property administration department of the State Council is
responsible for the registration of layout-designs and the acceptance of applications for layout-design
registration.IP/N/1/CHN/L/1/Rev.1
Page 5
Article 15 Where a layout-design for which registration is applied relates to the security or other
vital interests of the State and is required to be kept secret, the application shall be handled in
accordance with the relevant provisions of the State.
Article 16  Where  the layout-design registration is applied for, the following shall be submitted:
    (1) the application form for layout-design registration;
    (2) the copy or drawing of the layout-design;    (3) where the layout-design has been commercially exploited, the sample of the integrated circuit
incorporating the layout-design;
    (4) other materials required by the intellectual property administration department of the State
Council.
Article 17 For any layout-design, if no application for registration has been filed with the
intellectual property administration department of the State Council within two years from the date onwhich it is first commercially exploited anywhere in the world, it shall no longer be registered by the
intellectual property administration department of the State Council.
Article 18 Where, after preliminary examination of an application for layout-design registration,
it is found that there is no reason for rejection, the intellectual property administration department of
the State Council shall have it registered, issue the registration certificate and make an announcement.
Article 19 Where an applicant for layout-design registration is not satisfied with the decision of
the intellectual property administration department of the State Council rejecting the application, it or
he may, within three months from the date of receipt of the notification, request the intellectual
property administration department of the State Council to make a reexamination. The intellectual
property administration department of the State Council shall, after the reexamination, make a
decision and notify the applicant for layout-desig n registration. Where the applicant for layout-design
registration is still not satisfied with the decision of reexamination of the intellectual propertyadministration department of the State Council, it or he may, within three months from the date of
receipt of the notification, bring a lawsuit before the people’s court.
Article 20  Where, after the registration of a layout-design has been granted, the intellectual
property administration department of the State Council finds that the registration does not comply
with the provisions of these Regulations, it shall have it revoked, notify the right holder of the layout-
design and make an announcement. Where the right holder of the layout-design is not satisfied withthe decision of the intellectual property administration department of the State Council revoking theIP/N/1/CHN/L/1/Rev.1
Page 6
layout-design registration, it or he may, within three months from receipt of the notification, bring a
lawsuit before the people’s court.
Article 21 Until the announcement of a layout-design registration, staff members of the
intellectual property administration department of th e State Council have the duty to keep its contents
secret.
Chapter IV Exploitation Of Exclusive Rights Of Layout-Designs
Article 22 The right holder of a layout-design may have its or his exclusive rights assigned or
license other persons to use its or his layout-design.
    Where the exclusive rights of a layout-design are assigned, the parties concerned shall conclude a
written contract and have it registered with the intellectual property administration department of the
State Council. The intellectual property administration department of the State Council shall make anannouncement. The assignment of the exclusive rights of a layout-design shall take effect as of the
date of registration.
    Where a layout-design is licensed to be used by other persons, the parties concerned shall conclude
a written contract.
    Article 23 A layout-design may be used without the authorization of its right holder and without
any payment of remuneration under any of the following circumstances:
    (1) reproducing the protected layout-design for private purposes or for the sole purpose of
evaluation, analysis, research or teaching;
    (2)creating a layout-design with originality on the basis of the evaluation or analysis of the
protected layout-design referred to in the preceding paragraph;
    (3)reproducing or commercially exploiting a layout-design made independently by oneself that is
identical with a layout-design of another person.
Article 24 For any protected layout-designs, integrated circuits in which the layout-designs are
incorporated, or articles incorporating such integrated circuits, so long as they have been put on the
market by the right holders of the layout-designs or with their authorization, anyone may exploit themfor commercial purposes without the authorization of, nor payment of remuneration made to, the right
holders of the layout-designs.IP/N/1/CHN/L/1/Rev.1
Page 7
Article 25 In situations of  national emergency, or in any extraordinary state of affairs, or for the
purposes of public interests, or where it is determined according to law by the people’s court or the
supervision and inspection department for unfair comp etition that there is unfair competition practice
on the part of the right-holder of layout-design and there is a need to give remedy, the intellectual
property administration department of the State Council may grant a non-voluntary license to exploit
the layout-design to remedy the unfair competition practice.
Article 26 Any decision made by the intellectual property administration department of the State
Council granting a non-voluntary license to exploit a layout-design shall be notified promptly to the
right holder of the layout-design.
    In the decision granting a non-voluntary license to exploit a layout-design, the scope and duration
of the exploitation shall be specified on the basis of the reasons justifying the granting. The scope
shall be limited to non-commercial use for public purposes or to the remedy required as determinedaccording to law by the people’s court or the supervision and inspection department for unfair
competition of the right holder of layout-design.
    Where the circumstances leading to such non-voluntary license cease to exist and are unlikely to
recur, the intellectual property administration depart ment of the State Council shall, after reviewing
upon the request of the right holder of layout-design, make a decision to terminate the non-voluntary
license.
Article 27 Any natural person, legal person or other organization that is granted non-voluntary
license to exploit a layout-design shall not have an exclusive right to exploit it and shall not have the
right to authorize exploitation by any other person.
Article 28  Any natural person, legal person or other organization that is granted non-voluntary
license shall pay to the right holder of layout-design a reasonable exploitation fee, the amount of
which shall be fixed by both parties through consultation; where the parties fail to reach an agreement,the intellectual property administration department of the State Council shall make an adjudication.
Article 29 Where the right holder of a layout-design is not satisfied with the decision of the
intellectual property administration department of  the State Council granting a non-voluntary license
to exploit the layout-design, or where the right holder of a layout-design, the natural person, legal
person or other organization that is granted non-voluntary license is not satisfied with the adjudication
made by the intellectual property administration department of the State Council regarding the feepayable for exploitation, it or he may, within three months from the date of receipt of notification,
bring a lawsuit before the people’s court.IP/N/1/CHN/L/1/Rev.1
Page 8
Chapter V Legal Liability
Article 30 Except as otherwise provided in these Regulations, without the authorization of the
right holder of a layout-design, anyone committing any one of the following acts must stop theinfringing act, and shall be liable for compensation for the damage:
     (1) reproducing the whole or any original part of a protected layout-design;
    (2) importing, selling or providing in any other form, for commercial purposes, any protectedlayout-design, integrated circuit in which the layout-design is incorporated, or article incorporating
such an integrated circuit.
    The amount of compensation for the damage caused by the infringement of the exclusive rights of a
layout-design shall be assessed on the basis of the profits which the infringer has made from the
infringement or the losses which the right holder of the layout-design has suffered, including the
reasonable expenses of the infringed party for stopping the infringing act.
Article 31 Where a dispute arises as a result of the exploitation of a layout-design without the
authorization of the right holder of the layout-design, that is, the infringement of the exclusive rights
of the layout-design, it shall be settled through consultation by the parties concerned. Where they arenot willing to or fail to settle the dispute through consultation, the right holder of the layout-design or
any interested party may bring a lawsuit before the people’s court, or request the intellectual property
administration department of the State Council to handle the matter. When the intellectual property
administration department of the State Council handling the matter considers that the infringement is
established, it may order the infringer to stop the infringing act immediately, and confiscate or  destroy
the infringing products or articles. If the party concerned is not satisfied, he may, within 15 days fromthe date of receipt of the notification, bring a lawsuit before the people’s court in accordance with the
Administration Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China; if, after the expiration of the time
limit, the infringer fails to bring a lawsuit and re fuses to stop the infringing act, the intellectual
property administration department of the Stat e Council may apply to the people’s court for
compulsory enforcement. The intellectual property administration department of the State Council
may, upon the request of the parties concerned, mediate on the amount of compensation for thedamage caused by the infringement of the exclusive rights of a layout-design; if the mediation fails,
the parties concerned may bring a lawsuit before the people’s court in accordance with the Civil
Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China.
Article 32 Where the right holder of a layout-design or an interested party has evidence to prove
that another person is committing, or will soon commit, an infringement of its or his exclusive rightsIP/N/1/CHN/L/1/Rev.1
Page 9
and that if such an infringement is not prev ented from occurrence in time, it is likely to cause
irreparable harm to its or his legitimate rights, it or he may, before bring a lawsuit, make an
application to the people’s court for the adoption of measures to order the suspension of relevant actsand the preservation of property.
Article 33  Where anyone commercially exploits an integrated circuit in which a protected
layout-design is incorporated or an article incorpor ating such an integrated circuit without knowing or
without reasonable grounds to be expected to know at the time when it or he obtains the integrated
circuit or the article that they incorporated an unlawfully reproduced layout-design, it or he shall not
be deemed as infringing the exclusive rights of a layout-design.
   After having received definite notice that the integrated circuit or the article incorporates unlawfully
reproduced layout-design, the person referred to in the preceding paragraph may continue the
commercial exploitation with respect to the stock on hand or ordered before the notice, but shall beliable to pay reasonable remuneration to the right holder of the layout-design.
Article 34  Where any staff member of the intellectual property administration department of the
State Council, in the work of layout-design administration, neglects his duty, abuses his power orcommit illegalities for personal gains or by fra udulent means shall be investigated for criminal
liability in accordance with law if a crime is consti tuted, if the case is not serious enough to constitute
a crime, he shall be given administrative sanction in accordance with law.
Chapter VI Supplementary Provisions
Article 35 When  applying for  layout-design registration and going through other formalities,
fees shall be paid as prescribed. The standard thereof shall be fixed by the price administration
department of the State Council and the intellectual property administration department of the State
Council, and shall be announced by the intellectual property administration department of the StateCouncil.
Article 36 These Regulations shall enter into force as of October 1, 2001.
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