(a) Director means the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (see § 1.9(j)).

(b) Foreign government means the duly-constituted executive of a foreign nation, or an international or regional intergovernmental organization which has been empowered by its member states to request issuance of Presidential proclamations on their behalf under this part.

(c) Interim order means an order issued by the Secretary of Commerce under 17 U.S.C. 914.

(d) Mask work means a series of related images, however fixed or encoded—

(1) Having or representing the predetermined, three-dimensional pattern of metallic, insulating, or semiconductor material present or removed from the layers of a semiconductor chip product; and

(2) In which series the relation of the images to one another is that each image has the pattern of the surface of one form of the semiconductor chip product.

(e) Presidential proclamation means an action by the President extending to foreign nationals, domiciliaries and sovereign authorities the privilege of applying for registrations for mask works pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 902.

(f) Request means a request by a foreign government for the issuance of a Presidential proclamation.

(g) Proceeding means a proceeding to issue an interim order extending protection to foreign nationals, domiciliaries and sovereign authorities under 17 U.S.C. Chapter 9.

(h) Secretary means the Secretary of Commerce.

(a) The Director independently or as directed by the Secretary, may initiate an evaluation of the propriety of recommending the issuance, revision, suspension or revocation of a section 902 proclamation.

(b) The Director shall initiate an evaluation of the propriety of recommending the issuance of a section 902 proclamation upon receipt of a request from a foreign government.

(a) Requests for the issuance of a section 902 proclamation shall be submitted by foreign governments for review by the Director.

(b) Requests for issuance of a proclamation shall include:

(1) A copy of the foreign law or legal rulings that provide protection for U.S. mask works which provide a basis for the request.

(2) A copy of any regulations or administrative orders implementing the protection.

(3) A copy of any laws, regulations or administrative orders establishing or regulating the registration (if any) of mask works.

(4) Any other relevant laws, regulations or administrative orders.

(5) All copies of laws, legal rulings, regulations or administrative orders submitted must be in unedited, full-text form, and if possible, must be reproduced from the original document.

(6) All material submitted must be in the original language, and if not in English, must be accompanied by a certified English translation.

(a) Upon submission of a request by a foreign government for the issuance of a section 902 proclamation, if an interim order under section 914 has not been issued, the Director may initiate a section 914 proceeding if additional information is required.

(b) If an interim order under section 914 has been issued, the information obtained during the section 914 proceeding will be used in evaluating the request for a section 902 proclamation.

(c) After the Director receives the request of a foreign government for a section 902 proclamation, or after a determination is made by the Director to initiate independently an evaluation pursuant to § 150.2(a) of this part, a notice will be published in the Federal Register to request relevant and material comments on the adequacy and effectiveness of the protection afforded U.S. mask works under the system of law described in the notice. Comments should include detailed explanations of any alleged deficiencies in the foreign law or any alleged deficiencies in its implementation. If the alleged deficiencies include problems in administration such as registration, the respondent should include as specifically as possible full detailed explanations, including dates for and the nature of any alleged problems. Comments shall be submitted to the Director within sixty (60) days of publication of the Federal Register notice.

(d) The Director shall notify the Register of Copyrights and the Committees on the Judiciary of the Senate and the House of Representatives of the initiation of an evaluation under these regulations.

(e) If the written comments submitted by any party present relevant and material reasons why a proclamation should not issue, the Director will:

(1) Contact the party raising the issue for verification and any needed additional information;

(2) Contact the requesting foreign government to determine if the issues raised by the party can be resolved; and,

(i) If the issues are resolved, continue with the evaluation; or,

(ii) If the issues cannot be resolved on this basis, hold a public hearing to gather additional information.

(f) The comments, the section 902 request, information obtained from a section 914 proceeding, if any, and information obtained in a hearing held pursuant to paragraph (e)(ii) of this section, if any, will be evaluated by the Director.

(g) The Director will forward the information to the Secretary, together with an evaluation and a draft recommendation.

(h) The Secretary will forward a recommendation regarding the issuance of a section 902 proclamation to the President.

(a) The recommendation for the issuance of a proclamation may include terms and conditions regarding the duration of the proclamation.

(b) Requests for the revision, suspension or revocation of a proclamation may be submitted by any interested party. Requests for revision, suspension or revocation of a proclamation will be considered in substantially the same manner as requests for the issuance of a section 902 proclamation.

Requests and all correspondence pursuant to these guidelines shall be addressed to: Mail Stop Congressional Relations, Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450.