The documents normally required are the registration application form and a copy or drawing of the layout design. Where the design has already been commercially exploited, a sample of the integrated circuit embodying it must also be submitted.
Two timing points matter. First, CNIPA will not accept an application filed more than two years after the design was first commercially exploited, so for products already taped out and shipped the registration date is a hard constraint. Second, registration is followed by publication, but the published notice covers only bibliographic particulars and does not disclose the layout itself; for a design not commercially exploited before the filing date, up to 50% of the total area may be marked as confidential and sealed separately.
Foreign applicants must act through an agency lawfully established in China.
Build layout design registration into the tape-out process as a fixed checkpoint, alongside patent filings and trade secret management. Missing the two-year window forecloses the right entirely.
