[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 37, Volume 1]
[Revised as of July 1, 2008]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 37CFR211.4]

[Page 603-604]
 
              TITLE 37--PATENTS, TRADEMARKS, AND COPYRIGHTS
 
                                CONGRESS
 
PART 211_MASK WORK PROTECTION--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 211.4  Registration of claims of protection in mask works.

    (a) General. This section prescribes conditions for the registration 
of claims of protection in mask works pursuant to section 908 of title 
17 U.S.C.
    (b) Application for registration. (1) For purposes of registration 
of mask work claims, the Register of Copyrights has designated ``Form 
MW'' to be used for all applications submitted on and after January 7, 
1985. Copies of the form are available free upon request to the 
Copyright Information Office, U.S. Copyright Office, Library of 
Congress, Washington, DC 20559. Applications submitted before January 7, 
1985 will be dated January 7, 1985.
    (2) An application for registration of a mask work claim may be 
submitted by the owner of the mask work, or the duly authorized agent of 
any such owner.
    (i) The owner of a mask work includes a party that has obtained the 
transfer of all of the exclusive rights in the work, but does not 
include the transferee of less than all of the exclusive rights, or the 
licensee of all or less than all of these rights.
    (ii) For purposes of eligibility to claim mask work protection 
pursuant to section 902(a)(1)(A) of 17 U.S.C., the owner of the mask 
work must be either the initial owner or a person who has obtained by 
transfer the totality of rights in the mask work under the Act.
    (3) An application for registration shall be submitted on Form MW 
prescribed by the Register under paragraph (b)(1) of this section, and 
shall be accompanied by the registration fee and deposit required under 
17 U.S.C. 908 and Sec. Sec. 211.3 and 211.5 of these regulations. The 
application shall contain the information required by the form and its 
accompanying instructions, and shall include a certification. The 
certification shall consist of:

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    (i) A declaration that the applicant is authorized to submit the 
application and that the statements made are correct to the best of that 
person's knowledge; and
    (ii) The handwritten signature of the applicant, accompanied by the 
typed or printed name of that person.
    (c) One registration per mask work. (1) Subject to the exception 
specified in paragraph (c)(2) of this section, only one registration can 
generally be made for the same version of a mask work fixed in an 
intermediate or final form of any semiconductor chip product. However, 
where an applicant for registration alleges that an earlier registration 
for the same version of the work is unauthorized and legally invalid and 
submits for recordation a signed affidavit, a registration may be made 
in the applicant's name.
    (2) Notwithstanding the general rule permitting only one 
registration per work, owners of mask works in final forms of 
semiconductor chip products that are produced by adding metal-connection 
layers to unpersonalized gate arrays may separately register the entire 
unpersonalized gate array and the custom metallization layers. 
Applicants seeking to register separately entire unpersonalized gate 
arrays or custom metallization layers should make the nature of their 
claim clear at Space 8 of application Form MW. For these purposes, an 
``unpersonalized gate array'' is an intermediate form chip product that 
includes a plurality of circuit elements that are adaptable to be 
personalized into a plurality of different final form chip products, in 
which some of the circuit elements are, or will be, connected as gates.
    (d) Registration as a single work. Subject to the exception 
specified in paragraph (c)(2) of this section, for purposes of 
registration on a single application and upon payment of a single fee, 
the following shall be considered a single work.
    (1) In the case of a mask work that has not been commercially 
exploited: All original mask work elements fixed in a particular form of 
a semiconductor chip product at the time an application for registration 
is filed and in which the owner or owners of the mask work is or are the 
same; and
    (2) In the case of a mask work that has been commercially exploited. 
All original mask work elements fixed in a semiconductor chip product at 
the time that product was first commercially exploited and in which the 
owner or owners of the mask is or are the same.
    (e) Registration in most complete form. Owners seeking registration 
of a mask work contribution must submit the entire original mask work 
contribution in its most complete form as fixed in a semiconductor chip 
product. The most complete form means the stage of the manufacturing 
process which is closest to completion. In cases where the owner is 
unable to register on the basis of the most complete form because he or 
she lacks control over the most complete form, an averment of this fact 
must be made at Space 2 of Form MW. Where such an averment is made, the 
owner may register on the basis of the most complete form in his or her 
possession. For applicants seeking to register an unpersonalized gate 
array or custom metallization layers under paragraph (c)(2) of this 
section, the most complete form is the entire chip on which the 
unpersonalized gate array or custom metallization layers reside(s), and 
registration covers those elements of the chip in which work protection 
is asserted.
    (f) Corrections and amplifications of prior registration. Except for 
errors or omissions made by the Copyright Office, no corrections or 
amplifications can be made to the information contained in the record of 
a completed registration after the effective date of the registration. A 
document purporting to correct or amplify the information in a completed 
registration may be recorded in the Copyright Office for whatever effect 
a court of competent jurisdiction may later give to it, if the document 
is signed by the owner of the mask work, as identified in the 
registration record, or by a duly authorized agent of the owner.

[50 FR 26719, June 28, 1985, as amended at 56 FR 7818, Feb. 26, 1991; 64 
FR 36575, July 7, 1999; 66 FR 34374, June 28, 2001; 73 FR 37840, July 2, 
2008]

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