NEPAL
“design” refers to the characteristics of any article’s shape, configuration, pattern, ornament, or composition of lines or colours. The report may be both two-dimensional and three-dimensional or any combination of the two. It is essential to understand the terms “two-dimensional” and “three-dimensional” in the context of their common usage:
- A two-dimensional design is an arrangement of lines or colours placed on a flat surface to create a visual impact, such as wallpaper, textiles, etc.
- Designs with three dimensions stand out from flat surfaces. This phrase, which refers to any product with three-dimensional structures, is generally understood.
A design may have taken a lot of thought, effort, and money to find or create, thus it must also be protected under intellectual property laws. The Nepalese Act defines “design” as the form or shape of any object or material, regardless of how it was made. For the purpose of defining the critical components of a design for registration, Nepali law is silent.
PROCEDURE OF INDUSTRIAL REGISTRATION IN NEPAL
Step One: Filing for Industrial Design
The first step in safeguarding the design right is to do this. Any person who desires to create or cause to be made a product using his design must file an application to DOI. The application must follow the approved format, include a description of the design, four copies of the design, maps, and drawings, as well as the required fees. The applicant may submit an international application of design under the Paris Convention if, after submitting an application in his home country, he intends to submit the same design or prove the date of priority claim. By extending time, the Paris Convention has benefited the applicant.
The required details for filing are as follows:
- The name of the designer, indicating whether the applicant is the creator or the designer or if he obtained it from the employer during the employment time, must be mentioned in the application.
- A description of the design, four copies of it, maps, drawings, and details of it. The filing receipt from the home country should be requested if the design is to be registered in a foreign nation and the applicant intends to prove the date of priority claim.
Step Two: Formal Checking
The DOI will review an application document to ensure that it complies with all formal and procedural criteria. Where required papers are absent or required portions are not completed, a request to correct will be made.
Step Three: Examination Of The Application
If the required legal documentation is present once the formality check is finished, the substantive examination can begin. When reviewing a design, the DOI checks their records to see if a prior application or registration of the same design already exists. They also look at whether the design may harm an individual or institution’s reputation or undermine the national interest.17 If one of the aforementioned components is present in the application, DOI must notify the applicant and offer the option of further explanation or registration denial.
Suppose the examiner finds any grounds for denial. In that case, DOI may notify the applicant if the design has previously been registered in the name of another person for the identical design, if the design is against public morality, or if the design is against the country’s interests. If the DOI discovers the aforementioned conditions, they will refuse the registration and if one has already been made, they may cancel it. But before the cancellation, DOI will give the petitioner a fair chance to present a defence.
Step Four: Registration Of The Industrial Design
The DOI will grant the decision for design registration if the design satisfies all of the requirements set forth by law and convention. The applicant should pay the required fees when the decision to register the design is made, and then the registration certificate will be provided in the applicant’s name. To inform the broader public, it is necessary to publicise the DOI registration of a design.28 Anyone who objects to the design in question may file a lawsuit.
After its expiration, this publication continued to disseminate the material to the public for use and benefit.