China Overhauls Integrated Circuit Layout Design Protection for Post-Moore Era

Premier Li Qiang has signed State Council Order No. 842 publishing the revised Regulations on the Protection of Integrated Circuit Layout Designs, marking the first systematic overhaul of China’s semiconductor intellectual property framework in more than two decades. The revised regulations, approved at the 91st Executive Meeting of the State Council on July 10, will take effect on October 15, 2026, according to Xinhua News Agency.

A Landmark Legal Update

The original regulations, promulgated in April 2001 as State Council Order No. 300, established China’s specialized legal framework for protecting integrated circuit (IC) layout designs, implementing the country’s obligations under the WTO TRIPS Agreement. The revised text comprises six chapters and 54 articles, introducing sweeping changes to how IC layout designs are registered, protected, and commercialized.

According to the full text published by the Chinese government, the revision addresses four core areas: expanding the scope of protection, improving application and examination procedures, strengthening exclusive rights protection, and promoting the utilization of layout designs.

Expanding Protection to Photonic and Quantum Technologies

The most significant change is the expansion of the legal definition of integrated circuits. The revision removes the qualifier “semiconductor” from the definition and explicitly extends protection to “layout designs of integrated circuits with photonic and quantum functions.”

This reflects a strategic response to the technological frontier. As Huang Yunhua, deputy director of the Intellectual Property Research Institute at the National Industrial Information Security Development Research Center, explained in an expert analysis published by the Ministry of Justice, traditional IC transistor processes are approaching technological and physical limits, with disruptive technologies such as photonics and quantum computing continuously emerging. The revision, she said, is “an accurate assessment and positive response to the development of integrated circuit technology.”

Guo He, a professor at Renmin University’s School of Intellectual Property, offered a broader interpretation in his analysis on the Ministry of Justice website. He noted that the deliberate removal of “semiconductor” from the definition “demonstrates China’s attitude in intellectual property legislation today—we are no longer conservatives in the IP system. Encouraging innovation, looking to the future, and embracing technological innovation with an open attitude have become the foundation of China’s IP protection.”

Strengthened Enforcement and Damages

The revised regulations introduce punitive damages for intentional infringement with serious circumstances, allowing courts to award damages of one to five times the determined amount. This aligns with the punitive damages provisions of China’s Civil Code and mirrors similar mechanisms in the Patent Law. Damages calculations now follow a hierarchy: actual losses suffered by the rights holder, profits gained by the infringer, or a reasonable multiple of licensing fees. Costs incurred in stopping infringement are also included in compensation.

Cui Guobin, a professor at Tsinghua University Law School, noted in his expert commentary that the punitive damages regime “can constitute a realistic deterrent to infringers” when rights holders can prove subjective intent and serious circumstances.

New Originality Declaration System

The revision introduces an originality declaration system requiring applicants to specify original design areas, key design points, and corresponding functions. This transforms abstract originality judgments into reviewable, provable written documents stored in official archives.

Li Shunde, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of Law, told Shanghai Securities News that this system “significantly enhances the certainty of the scope of layout design protection, making rights boundaries clearer.” The declaration also helps balance the interests of rights holders and the public.

Procedural Reforms and Third-Party Challenges

The revision adds several procedural mechanisms designed to strengthen the integrity of the registration system. Applications must now be based on genuine creative activity, with false applications prohibited. The regulations also introduce a third-party request mechanism allowing any person to petition the intellectual property administrative department to cancel a registration that does not comply with the regulations—a procedure similar to patent invalidation.

New right restoration procedures provide relief for parties who lose rights due to force majeure or other legitimate reasons. The regulations also strengthen confidentiality protections for electronic versions of layout design materials, restricting access to registered designs’ electronic copies except for official purposes.

Promoting Commercialization and Rewards

The revised regulations clarify reward and compensation mechanisms for designers. Organizations that commission IC layout designs must now provide reasonable rewards and compensation in accordance with the Law on Promoting the Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements. Cui Guobin noted that in the absence of prior agreement, organizations must allocate no less than 50 percent of net transfer or licensing income, or 50 percent of shares formed by technology investment, as rewards to eligible personnel.

The regulations also improve rules for transfer, licensing, and pledge of layout design rights, and clarify how co-owners may exercise their rights.

Good Faith and Anti-Monopoly Principles

A new good faith principle now applies throughout the application and rights exercise process, prohibiting abuse of exclusive rights that harms national interests, public interests, or the legitimate rights of others. The regulations explicitly state that abuse of layout design exclusive rights constituting monopolistic behavior will be handled under the Anti-Monopoly Law.

A reciprocity provision allows China to take corresponding measures against any country or region that imposes discriminatory restrictions on Chinese IC layout design protection.

Strategic Implications

The revision comes amid China’s broader push for technological self-reliance in semiconductors. The country’s 15th Five-Year Plan explicitly calls for advancing breakthroughs in compute-in-memory, 3D integration, and optoelectronic fusion technologies, as well as raising the industrial level of high-end chips and optoelectronic devices.

Registration data shows that applications for IC layout designs containing photonic and quantum devices began increasing in 2022, with a large-scale submission trend emerging after 2024. The revised regulations provide a legal framework that anticipates this technological evolution.

As Economic Reference Daily reported, Huang Yunhua emphasized that IC design sits at the upstream of the industrial chain, determining chip performance, power consumption, and competitiveness. With product iteration cycles for photonic and quantum chips shortening, layout architecture design has become a critical competitive battleground.

Looking Ahead

The Ministry of Justice and the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) have outlined next steps for implementation. In a Q&A session published by Xinhua, officials said they will intensify public education on the new regulations, accelerate the revision of supporting departmental rules and normative documents, and ensure smooth implementation when the regulations take effect on October 15.

Guo He summarized the significance of the revision, stating that it “has to a large extent raised the level of protection for China’s integrated circuit layout designs, which has important practical significance for accelerating the construction of an intellectual property power and meeting the needs of high-quality development.”

For semiconductor companies, both domestic and international, the revised regulations signal a more robust and forward-looking IP protection environment in China—one designed to keep pace with the rapid evolution of chip technology in the post-Moore era. The coming months will reveal how effectively the new framework supports innovation and enforcement in practice.