China’s Revised IC Layout-Design Regulation: Originality Statements and the New Filing Discipline
- The revised Regulation on the Protection of Layout-Designs of Integrated Circuits (State Council Order No. 842) was adopted on 10 July 2026, promulgated on 23 July 2026 and took effect on 15 October 2026, in six chapters and 54 articles — the first comprehensive revision in the 25 years since the 2001 regulation.
《集成电路布图设计保护条例》修订由国务院第 91 次常务会议于 2026 年 7 月 10 日通过，7 月 23 日以国务院令第 842 号公布，自 2026 年 10 月 15 日起施行，共 6 章 54 条，是 2001 年条例施行 25 年来第一次全面修订。
- A statement of originality becomes a statutory filing document under Article 22, identifying the design area, design points and corresponding functions; where originality lies in the layout as a whole, Article 24 requires a specific explanation, and Article 23 requires the drawings to show the original part clearly.
第 22 条把独创性声明列为法定登记文件，应指明独创性的设计区域、设计要点及相应功能；作为整体具有独创性的，第 24 条要求具体说明，第 23 条要求提交的图样能清楚显示独创性部分。
- Article 20 requires an application to rest on genuine creative activity and bars falsification; Article 27 allows rejection, Article 30 lets any person request cancellation, Article 31 treats a cancelled registration as never having existed, and Article 33 adds a restoration procedure.
第 20 条要求登记申请以真实创作活动为基础、不得弄虚作假；第 27 条规定明显不符合规定的应予驳回，第 30 条允许任何人请求撤销，第 31 条规定被撤销的专有权视为自始即不存在，第 33 条新增权利恢复程序。
- Protection is measured by the registered copies or drawings, and the statement may be used to interpret originality (Article 34); damages follow actual loss or the infringer’s profit, and for wilful infringement in serious circumstances may be set at one to five times the amount so determined (Article 46).
保护范围以登记的复制件或图样所显示者为准，独创性声明可用于解释独创性（第 34 条）；赔偿按实际损失或侵权人获利确定，故意侵权且情节严重的，可按上述方法确定数额的 1 倍以上 5 倍以下确定（第 46 条）。
- The term is 10 years from the filing date or from first commercial exploitation anywhere in the world, whichever is earlier, with an absolute cut-off 15 years after creation; no application filed more than two years after first commercial exploitation anywhere will be registered (Articles 17 and 26).
保护期为 10 年，自登记申请日或世界任何地方首次商业利用之日起算，以较前日期为准；自创作完成之日起 15 年后不再保护；首次商业利用之日起 2 年内未申请登记的不再予以登记（第 17 条、第 26 条）。
- Assignments take effect on registration, licences must be recorded within three months of the contract taking effect, pledges require registration (Article 35); a non-voluntary licence may be granted in an emergency, for public interest or to remedy a monopoly, and abuse of layout-design rights is handled under the Anti-Monopoly Law (Articles 39 and 9).
转让自登记之日起生效，许可须在合同生效之日起 3 个月内备案，出质须办理出质登记（第 35 条）；国家紧急状态、公共利益目的或经认定构成垄断需补救时可给予非自愿许可，滥用布图设计专有权依照《反垄断法》处理（第 39 条、第 9 条）。
China’s Revised IC Layout-Design Regulation: Originality Statements and the New Filing Discipline | 中国《集成电路布图设计保护条例》修订：独创性声明与登记新规
Overview
The revised Regulation on the Protection of Layout-Designs of Integrated Circuits (State Council Order No. 842) was adopted at the 91st executive meeting of the State Council on 10 July 2026, promulgated by Premier Li Qiang on 23 July 2026, and took effect on 15 October 2026. It runs to six chapters and 54 articles and is the first comprehensive revision in the 25 years since the 2001 regulation came into force. The questions and answers released with the revision set out the changes (http://mrdx.cn/content/20260804/Articel02003NR.htm).
Two changes carry most of the practical weight. A statement of originality becomes a statutory filing document, so an applicant must now say where the original design lies and what that part does. And the filing is anchored to genuine creative activity, with rejection, cancellation and restoration procedures around it. The rest of the revision modernises the term, the transaction mechanics and the remedies, and extends coverage to layouts for integrated circuits with photonic and quantum functions.
Key developments in 2026
Originality, on the record. Article 22 adds the statement of originality to the statutory filing documents, identifying the design area, the design points and the corresponding functions. Where originality lies in the layout as a whole, Article 24 requires a specific explanation to that effect. Article 23 requires the copies or drawings to show the original part clearly, so drawings and statement are prepared together.
Scope of protection. Under Article 34, protection is measured by what the registered copies or drawings show, and the statement may explain the originality. It is therefore more than a formality: it becomes an interpretive aid in infringement analysis, and a vague statement narrows the reading of the registration itself.
Filing discipline. Article 20 requires an application to rest on genuine creative activity and prohibits falsification; Article 27 provides for rejection where an application obviously fails to comply. After registration, Article 30 allows any person to request cancellation, and Article 31 treats a cancelled registration as never having existed — a retroactive consequence reaching licences and assignments already recorded. Article 33 adds a procedure for restoring rights. The Ministry of Justice’s commentary explains the statement in these terms (https://www.moj.gov.cn/pub/sfbgw/zwxxgk/fdzdgknr/fdzdgknrjdhy/202608/t20260803_538208.html).
Term and the three dates. Article 17 sets a 10-year term from the filing date or from first commercial exploitation anywhere in the world, whichever is earlier, and ends protection 15 years after creation, whether or not the layout was registered or exploited. Article 26 bars registration where no application is filed within two years of first commercial exploitation anywhere in the world.
Foreign applicants. Article 4 protects a layout created by a foreign national or enterprise where it is first commercially exploited in China, or where the applicant’s country has a protection agreement with China or is party with China to a relevant treaty. Article 5 requires a foreign applicant without habitual residence or a business office in China to appoint a patent agency established in accordance with law.
Transactions. Article 35 requires an assignment by written contract, registered and published, effective on registration; a licence by written contract, recorded within three months of the contract taking effect; a pledge by pledge registration. Article 36 lets co-owners agree how the right is exercised and supplies default rules.
Enforcement and competition. Article 46 measures damages by actual loss or the infringer’s profit, refers to a reasonable multiple of the licence fee where neither can be determined, and allows one to five times that figure for wilful infringement in serious circumstances. Articles 37 and 38 exclude copying for personal use, evaluation, analysis, research and teaching, layouts created on that basis, independent creation of an identical layout, and acts within an exhausted right. Article 39 permits a non-voluntary licence in a national emergency or other extraordinary situation, for public interest, or to remedy a monopoly found by a court or an antitrust authority. Article 9 provides that abuse of layout-design rights to exclude or restrict competition is handled under the Anti-Monopoly Law.
Practical implications for foreign businesses
The statement is a drafting project, not a form. It should be written by the engineers who know which blocks are original and why, then checked by counsel against the drawings to be filed. Because Article 34 lets the statement interpret the scope, the wording chosen at filing sets the ceiling on what can be argued later.
The genuine-creation requirement shifts attention to records: design files, revision histories, tool logs and the identity of those who did the work, which may be needed years later, particularly where a contractor or design house produced the layout. A layout supplied by a firm that did not itself create it deserves scrutiny before filing, because Article 31 reaches back over what is built on the registration.
The calendar is unforgiving. Two years from first commercial exploitation anywhere is short for a group that launches a chip abroad before considering China; ten years is the term, but fifteen years from creation is a ceiling no registration extends.
Transactions have three formal steps: an assignment signed but not registered does not transfer the right; a licence not recorded within three months leaves a compliance gap even if the contract binds the parties; a pledge needs its own registration. Co-ownership is better handled in an agreement.
Licensing now sits alongside competition law explicitly. Article 9 states the consequence, and Article 39 makes a non-voluntary licence a remedy where a monopoly is found. A programme that bundles layouts, ties licences to other products or refuses access on unexplained terms is exposed on two fronts.
Related reading
- Patent and trademark protection for semiconductor and design businesses, and how the three regimes divide the work.
- Merger control and antitrust review, including the treatment of intellectual property in competition analysis.
- Technology licensing, recordal and the tax treatment of royalties paid across the border.
Sources
- Xinhua Daily Telegraph, questions and answers with the Ministry of Justice and the intellectual property authority on the revision: http://mrdx.cn/content/20260804/Articel02003NR.htm
- Ministry of Justice, expert commentary on the originality statement system: https://www.moj.gov.cn/pub/sfbgw/zwxxgk/fdzdgknr/fdzdgknrjdhy/202608/t20260803_538208.html
- People’s Daily Online, reproduction of the questions and answers: https://politics.people.com.cn/BIG5/n1/2026/0803/c461001-40773140.html
- China National Intellectual Property Administration: https://www.cnipa.gov.cn/
中国《集成电路布图设计保护条例》修订：独创性声明与登记新规
概述
《集成电路布图设计保护条例》修订经国务院第 91 次常务会议于 2026 年 7 月 10 日通过，由总理李强于 2026 年 7 月 23 日签署国务院令第 842 号公布，自 2026 年 10 月 15 日起施行。修订后的条例共 6 章 54 条，是 2001 年条例施行 25 年来第一次全面修订。随修订一同发布的答记者问，对此次修改的背景与要点作了说明（http://mrdx.cn/content/20260804/Articel02003NR.htm）。
其中两项变化承担的实务分量最重。其一，独创性声明成为法定登记文件，申请人必须说明独创性落在何处、该部分实现什么功能。其二，登记被锚定在真实创作活动之上，驳回、撤销与权利恢复程序围绕这一要求展开。其余修改则更新了保护期、权利变动的手续与救济手段，并把保护范围扩展至具有集成光子、量子等功能的集成电路布图设计。
从结构上看，这次修订没有改变布图设计专有权的取得方式——仍以登记为基础，也不改变民事保护的基本框架；改变的是登记环节要交什么、声明写什么、以及声明与保护范围之间如何对应。对已经持有登记或以许可方式使用布图设计的企业，需要重新检查的是登记档案与合同台账，而不是权利类型本身。
术语口径也需留意：条例所使用的是”布图设计””独创性””商业利用””非自愿许可”等表述，与著作权法上的”作品”、专利法上的”专利”并非同一概念。内部合规文件、供应商合同与技术许可协议在援引时，宜沿用条例用语，避免因概念混用而导致权利基础表述不准。
2026 年的关键进展
独创性，写进档案。 第 22 条把独创性声明列入法定登记文件，要求指明独创性的设计区域、设计要点及相应功能。若独创性体现为布图设计整体，第 24 条要求就此具体说明。第 23 条要求提交的复制件或图样能清楚显示独创性部分，因此图样与声明必须一并准备，而不能先出图样、后补声明。司法部发布的专家解读即按这一思路解释独创性声明制度（https://www.moj.gov.cn/pub/sfbgw/zwxxgk/fdzdgknr/fdzdgknrjdhy/202608/t20260803_538208.html）。
保护范围。 依第 34 条，保护范围以登记的复制件或图样所显示者为准，独创性声明可用于解释独创性。因此声明不只是满足形式要求：它在侵权比对中成为解释工具，写得含糊，权利人对自己已获登记的布图设计反而只能主张更窄的范围。
登记纪律。 第 20 条要求登记申请以真实创作活动为基础，不得弄虚作假；第 27 条规定，明显不符合规定的应予驳回。获准登记之后，第 30 条允许任何人请求撤销；第 31 条规定，登记被撤销的专有权视为自始即不存在——这一后果具有溯及力，会波及此前已经登记的转让与许可。第 33 条新增权利恢复程序，为耽误期限的权利人提供了一条回归路径。
保护期与三个时间点。 第 17 条规定保护期为 10 年，自登记申请日或世界任何地方首次商业利用之日起算，以较前日期为准；并规定无论是否登记或投入商业利用，自创作完成之日起 15 年后不再保护。第 26 条规定，世界任何地方首次商业利用之日起 2 年内未申请登记的不再予以登记。
外国申请人。 第 4 条规定，外国人、外国企业创作的布图设计首先在中国境内投入商业利用的，或其所属国与中国签订保护协议、共同参加有关国际条约的，依条例享有专有权。第 5 条规定，在中国没有经常居所或营业所的外国人申请登记，应当委托依法设立的专利代理机构办理。
权利变动。 第 35 条规定，转让须订立书面合同，并向主管部门登记、公告，自登记之日起生效；许可须订立书面合同，并自合同生效之日起 3 个月内备案；出质须办理出质登记。第 36 条允许共有人约定权利行使方式，未约定的适用默认规则。
救济与竞争。 第 46 条规定，赔偿按权利人的实际损失或侵权人的获利确定；两者均难以确定的，参照许可使用费的倍数合理确定；对故意侵权且情节严重的，可按上述方法确定数额的 1 倍以上 5 倍以下确定赔偿。第 37 条、第 38 条分别列出不视为侵权的情形与权利用尽：为个人目的或评价、分析、研究、教学目的复制，在评价分析基础上创作出具有独创性的布图设计，独立创作出相同布图设计，以及在权利用尽范围内的行为。第 39 条规定，国家紧急状态或非常情况、公共利益目的，或经人民法院、反垄断执法机构认定构成垄断需补救时，可以给予非自愿许可。第 9 条则明确，滥用布图设计专有权排除、限制竞争构成垄断行为的，依照《反垄断法》处理。
对外资企业的实务意义
独创性声明宜当作一项撰写工程，而不是一张表格。它应由清楚哪些模块具有独创性、理由何在的工程人员起草，再由法律顾问对照拟提交的图样核对。由于第 34 条允许以声明解释保护范围，登记时的措辞实际上设定了日后主张的上限。
真实创作的要求把注意力引向记录。设计文件、版本历史、工具日志以及实际完成人员，都是日后可能被要求出示的证据，在布图设计由承包商或设计服务公司完成的情形下尤其如此。若供应商提供的布图设计并非由其本人创作，这样的安排在申请前就值得审视，因为第 31 条的溯及后果会波及建立在登记之上的一切安排。
时间上的安排格外不容拖延。自世界任何地方首次商业利用起算的 2 年，对先在境外流片、再考虑中国市场的集团而言并不宽裕；10 年是保护期，而自创作完成起 15 年是硬性上限，任何登记都无法延长。若某款产品已在境外销售多年，宜先确认首次商业利用的具体日期，再判断是否仍有登记空间。
权利变动有三个彼此独立的手续环节。已签署但未登记的转让不产生移转效力；未在合同生效后 3 个月内备案的许可，即使合同在双方之间仍然有效，合规上仍留有缺口；出质则须单独办理出质登记。共有关系宜以协议安排，而不是留给默认规则。
许可行为现在与竞争法明确并列。第 9 条写明了后果；第 39 条则在认定垄断后把非自愿许可列为补救方式之一。把布图设计与其他产品捆绑、以许可换取其他交易条件、或以难以说明理由的条件拒绝许可的许可方案，会同时在两条线上承受压力。
对多数集团而言，真正需要动手的是三件事：核对既有登记的声明是否仍足以支撑主张的保护范围；核对许可备案、转让登记与出质登记是否齐备，尤其是跨年度、跨主体的老合同；核对尚未申请登记的布图设计是否仍落在 2 年与 15 年的窗口之内。这三项工作都不涉及重新设计产品，却直接决定一份登记在争议中能起多大作用。人民网转载的答记者问对此次修订的背景与要点亦有说明（https://politics.people.com.cn/BIG5/n1/2026/0803/c461001-40773140.html），可作为内部培训与合规宣讲的基础材料。
需要说明的是，条例自 2026 年 10 月 15 日起施行，登记实务中的具体审查尺度、声明范本与补正要求，仍以主管部门的操作口径为准。上述解读依据的是条例条文与主管部门公开发布的答记者问，不构成对个案结果的判断；具体办理仍宜与专利代理机构就声明格式与图样要求逐项核对。
延伸阅读
- 半导体与设计企业的专利、商标保护，以及三类制度之间的分工。
- 经营者集中审查与反垄断分析中对知识产权的处理。
- 技术许可、备案以及跨境特许权使用费的税务处理。
来源
- 新华每日电讯·司法部、国家知识产权局就条例修订答记者问：http://mrdx.cn/content/20260804/Articel02003NR.htm
- 司法部·独创性声明制度专家解读：https://www.moj.gov.cn/pub/sfbgw/zwxxgk/fdzdgknr/fdzdgknrjdhy/202608/t20260803_538208.html
- 人民网·答记者问转载：https://politics.people.com.cn/BIG5/n1/2026/0803/c461001-40773140.html
- 国家知识产权局官网：https://www.cnipa.gov.cn/