ls or domiciliaries of the United States
protection (A) on substantially the same basis as that on which the
foreign nation extends protection to mask works of its own nationals and
domiciliaries and mask works first commercially exploited in that
nation, or (B) on substantially the same basis as provided in this
chapter, the President may by proclamation extend protection under this
chapter to mask works (i) of owners who are, on the date on which the
mask works are registered under section 908, or the date on which the
mask works are first commercially exploited anywhere in the world,
whichever occurs first, nationals, domiciliaries, or sovereign
authorities of that nation, or (ii) which are first commercially
exploited in that nation. The President may revise, suspend, or revoke
any such proclamation or impose any conditions or limitations on
protection extended under any such proclamation.

(b) Protection under this chapter shall not be available for a mask work
that-

(1) is not original; or

(2) consists of designs that are staple, commonplace, or familiar in the
semiconductor industry, or variations of such designs, combined in a way
that, considered as a whole, is not original.

(c) In no case does protection under this chapter for a mask work extend
to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept,
principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is
described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work.

Section 903. Ownership, transfer, licensing, and recordation

(a) The exclusive rights in a mask work subject to protection under this
chapter belong to the owner of the mask work.

(b) The owner of the exclusive rights in a mask work may transfer all of
those rights, or license all or less than all of those rights, by any
written instrument signed by such owner or a duly authorized agent of
the owner. Such rights may be transferred or licensed by operation of
law, may be bequeathed by will, and may pass as personal property by the
applicable laws of intestate succession.

(c)(1) Any document pertaining to a mask work may be recorded in the
Copyright Office if the document filed for recordation bears the actual
signature of the person who executed it, or if it is accompanied by a
sworn or official certification that it is a true copy of the original,
signed document. The Register of Copyrights shall, upon receipt of the
document and the fee specified pursuant to