– Law on the Protection of Topographies of Semiconductor Products, in force since April 30, 1998, with latest amendments in force since January 1, 2016.
– Industrial Property Institutions and Procedures Law, in force since January 1, 2016, with latest amendments in force since March 7, 2023.

Applicant: natural person or legal entity of a country having concluded a bilateral or multilateral arrangement with the Republic of Latvia concerning the protection of topography of semiconductor products.

Date of filing: application for topography protection may be submitted before the first commercial use or within a period of two years from the date of first commercial use in Latvia or abroad. After this period, no exclusive rights can be requested. If the topography is not commercially used, the applicant has the right to file an application within fifteen years from the creation of the topography.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. A short description of the topography;
2. Materials which clearly identify the topography and their elements and are of perfect quality:
– drawings and pictures which describe semiconductor device layer configuration;
– mask which is used for production of semiconductor device, or drawings or pictures of part of the mask;
– drawings and pictures of the different layers of semiconductor device;
3. Documents which confirm the date of first commercial use (if use has been initiated before filing the application). If first commercial use has been initiated by another person, the applicant should indicate the juridical relation with that person (evidence can be filed in Latvian, English, French, Russian or German; otherwise, legalized translation is required in one of these languages);
4. To ensure better topography identification, the applicant can file a sample of it or any data sources where the topography is present.

Note: as of January 1, 2016, no power of attorney is needed to file if an order is sent to a registered Latvian patent attorney.

After formal examination, the Patent Office registers the topography.

Duration: ten years counted from the date of filing or from the first commercial use if earlier.