As the use of third-party intellectual property (IP) becomes more and more prevalent, the ability to effectively track and monitor IP usage becomes increasingly important. This paper provides a novel systematic layout hashing scheme that applies entropy reduction on layout data to manage and track physical IP. Using a combination of symbolic encoding, canonical reduction, lossless compression and cryptographic hash functions, it provides an efficient, scalable, robust, and extensible method for tracking geometrical layout from design through manufacturing and into production. By employing such a system, companies can implement effective IP tracking and management programs, and be in a better position to detect and deter IP infringement.