Nepal

NEPAL

We provide trademark search and analysis services for clients seeking to protect their trademarks in Nepal. All our trademark search reports are accompanied by an opinion that analyzes the possibility of registering the client’s trademark. Our trademark lawyers in Nepal conduct systematic trademark search methodology, and our expertise in trademark law enables us to provide value-added Trademark search and analysis reports.

We provide specialized advisory services on trademark registration, searches, cancellations, oppositions, revocations, and prosecution, and draft trademark-licensing agreements and assignments to meet our clients’ global requirements.

TRADEMARK REGISTRATION

In Nepal, registering a trademark takes between 12 and 15 months, and it is valid for seven years after the registration date. The official authority in charge of registering and managing trademarks in Nepal is the Department of Industry (DOI), a division of the Ministry of Industry. Additional home/foreign registration is necessary if it is for the registration of a foreign trademark. A form must be completed and submitted to the Ministry of Industries for domestic and foreign trademark registration.

Required Formality

  1. Trademark registration application
  2. A statement of the amount paid for trademark registration.
  3. The trademark needs to be registered in four copies.
  4. Documents proving the company’s incorporation and VAT/PAN number.
  5. Information about the applicant (status, address of the person or business submitting the trademark registration application).
  6. The applicant’s tax clearance certificate.
  7. A power of attorney in one copy.

Registration Procedure

The registrar reviews the application after submitting it to the Department of Industries in the required format with supporting documentation, considering the distinctiveness, potential for deception, and competing trademarks. It verifies whether or not the proposed brand is already registered and whether or not the submitted documents comply with all legal requirements. After reviewing the file, the Department of Industries will publish the trademark in an “IP Bulletin” if it is compatible with the law.

To inform the public and encourage them to file an opposition for trademark registration, trademarks are published in the IP Bulletin. An opposition must be lodged within 90 days of the trademark’s publication in the IP Bulletin. If no petition for resistance is submitted, the department will register the trademark and issue the trademark registration certificate.

Following the Patent, Design and Trademark Act of 1965 (PDTA), a trademark must be renewed with a Rs 1,000 fine within 35 days of expiration. The registration will automatically expire unless the renewal is done within the allotted time. Registering a trademark typically takes nine months to a year to complete.

Grounds of refusal

The Patient, Design and Trademark Act of 1965 (PDTA) lists a few reasons why a trademark registration application can be denied:

  1. If a trademark harms a person’s or an organization’s reputation.
  2. If such a trademark conflicts with public morality or interest.
  3. If such a trademark damages the reputation of any person’s brand.
  4. If it turns out that the trademark has already been registered under the name of another person.

Anyone who infringes the rights of a registered trademark owner by using a trademark that the department has cancelled may be fined by the department’s order, and all items associated with the violation will be seized.