§13.29. Conversions a) At any time before the grant or refusal of a patent an applicant for a patent may, upon payment of the prescribed fees, convent his/her application into an application for a utility model certificate which shall be accorded the filing date of the initial application. b) At any time before the grant or refusal of a utility model certificate, an applicant for a utility model certificate may, upon payment of the prescribed fees, convert his application into a patent application, which shall be accorded the filing date of the initial application. c) An application may not be converted under subsection (a) of this Section more than once. Section 14 Layout Designs of Integrated Circuits §14.1. Subject Matter of Protection; Registration a) The layout-design of an integrated circuit shall be protected if it is registered pursuant to this Part. b) The layout-design of an integrated circuit may be registered if it is original within the meaning of Section 14.2 of this Part. c) Registration may only be applied for if the layout-design has not yet been commercially exploited, or has been commercially exploited for not more than two years, anywhere in the world before the date of filing in Liberia. d) For the purposes of this Part, “right holder” means the person who is to be regarded as the beneficiary of the protection referred to in Section 14.4 of this Part. §14.2. Originality a) A layout-design shall be considered to be original if it is the result of its creator‟s own intellectual effort and is not commonplace among creators of layout-designs and manufacturers of integrated circuits at the time of its creation. b) A layout-design consisting of a combination of elements and interconnections that are commonplace shall be protected only if the combination, taken as a whole, is original within the meaning of subsection (a). §14.3. Right to Protection a) The right to layout-design registration shall belong to the creator of the layout-design. It may be assigned or transferred by succession. Where several persons have jointly created a layout-design, the right shall belong to them jointly. 81