• 30 Jul, 2026
  • Updated 16 Oct, 2026
  • Patents & Designs
  • IP Sewa
  • 14 min read

Design rights in Nepal come from one statute, the Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act, 2022 (1965). It gives designs eight short sections. Read them and the surprises are what is missing: no novelty test, no examination standard, and a hard fifteen-year ceiling.

Key takeaways

  • One Act covers three rights, and the design provisions run from Sec. 12 to Sec. 15.
  • Sec. 2(b) defines a design as "the form or shape of any material manufactured in any manner".
  • The words novelty, novel and prior art appear zero times in the Act.
  • Sec. 12(1) makes the right arise on registration, which is what first-to-file means here.
  • Sec. 14A gives five years, and Sec. 23B allows renewal not more than twice.
  • The objection window after publication is 35 days under Sec. 21A, not the 90 quoted for marks.
  • Sec. 15 backs the right with a fine and confiscation ordered by the Department.

Which Act governs design rights in Nepal?

The Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act, authenticated in 1965 and cited in Nepal by its Bikram Sambat year, 2022. One statute, three separate rights.

That single-statute structure explains a lot of confusion. People read a sentence written for patents and apply it to designs, or borrow the trademark timetable for a design filing.

The design chapter is short. If you want the filing procedure and the Department's own checklist, our guide to industrial design registration in Nepal walks through it step by step. This page stays with the Act.

What does the Act mean by a design?

Sec. 2(b) is one line: a design means "the form or shape of any material manufactured in any manner".

Notice what is not there. The Indian and British formula — shape, configuration, pattern or ornamentation applied to an article — does not appear in Nepal's text.

So a Nepali design right is anchored to form and shape. Whether a surface pattern with no three-dimensional form qualifies is arguable on this wording, and worth asking an advocate before you rely on it.

Function is a separate question. How a product works belongs to the patent side of the same Act, and our note on design against patent sets out which to choose.

Does the Act require a design to be new?

Not in words. Count the terms over the official English text and novelty, novel and prior art each return zero.

What Sec. 14(1) does instead is direct the Department to register the design in the applicant's name and issue a certificate, subject to a proviso.

That proviso is the whole registrability test, and it is a list of four bars rather than a standard of inventiveness or originality.

Originality still matters in practice. The Department's own paperwork asks for a statement of claim, and an earlier identical registration is one of the four bars — so treat "new" as practice, not as statutory text.

The four bars in the Sec. 14 provisoFour cards. A design is refused if it hurts the prestige of an individual or institution, if it adversely affects public conduct or morality, if it undermines the national interest, or if it has already been registered in the name of another person. A banner beneath notes that novelty, inventive step and prior art appear nowhere in the Act.Everything the Act says can stop a designOne proviso to Sec. 14, and nothing else1. PrestigeIt hurts the prestige of anindividual or institution.2. Public conductIt adversely affects publicconduct or morality.3. National interestIt undermines the nationalinterest.4. Already registeredIt is already registered inanother person's name.Counted over the official English text of the Act:"novelty" zero. "novel" zero. "prior art" zero. Only the four bars above.
Four bars, and the fourth is the only one that looks anything like a novelty test.
Which right does this feature belong to?A decision tree. The first question asks what you are protecting. If it is how the product looks, the route is a design under Sections 12 to 15. If it is how the product works, the route is a patent under Section 5. If it is the name or logo on the product, the route is a trade mark under Section 18. If it is a drawing, text or photograph rather than a manufactured article, the question belongs to the Copyright Act instead of this statute.One product, up to four different filingsThe Act holds three of them; the fourth is another statuteWhat exactly are youtrying to stop being copied?The lookDesign right.Sec. 12 to Sec. 15.Five years, twice.The workingPatent.Sec. 5 asks: new anduseful.The nameTrade mark.Sec. 18 registers it,renewable for ever.The drawingNot this Act at all.Copyright arises oncreation instead.Most products need more than one of these.They are separate applications, with separate terms and separate deadlines.
Four routes, three of them in one Act. Choosing the wrong one wastes the filing and the year.

How does the right come into existence?

Sec. 12(1) says a person may acquire title to the design of a manufactured article "upon registration under Sec. 14". Use alone gives you nothing here.

That is what people mean when they call Nepal first-to-file. The register decides, and the date on it is the date that counts.

Sec. 12(2) then prohibits copying or using a registered design without a transfer of ownership or written permission under Sec. 21D.

What does the Act ask you to file?

Sec. 13(1) is specific in a way the rest of the chapter is not. It asks for an application in the Schedule 1(b) form, together with four copies of the design.

Those copies come "with maps, and drawings and particulars thereof". Four is a literal statutory number, not a Department preference.

Sec. 13(2) requires the application fee at the same time, and Sec. 14(2) a separate fee for the certificate. We do not publish amounts; ask us instead.

Where an agent files for you, a power of attorney is the document that makes that possible, and a foreign applicant will also be asked for home-registration evidence.

How long does a design right run?

Sec. 14A gives five years "from the date of registration thereof", which is not the filing date and not the publication date.

Sec. 23B(3) then makes it renewable "not more than twice for a period of five years at a time". Five plus five plus five is the ceiling.

So a Nepali design right is a fifteen-year asset at the very most. Patents share the not-more-than-twice limit at seven years a term; trademarks do not, and may be renewed any number of times.

Sec. 23B(1) sets the renewal window at 35 days from expiry, with a late window of six months in Sec. 23B(2), after which the registration is automatically cancelled. Our renewal calculator works out the dates.

How do the three rights compare in one Act?

FeatureDesignPatentTrade mark
Term5 years, Sec. 14A.7 years, Sec. 8.7 years, Sec. 18D.
Renewals allowedNot more than twice.Not more than twice.Any number of times.
Lifetime ceiling15 years.21 years.No ceiling.
Objection window35 days, Sec. 21A.35 days, Sec. 7A.90 days from Bulletin publication.
Penalty sectionSec. 15.Sec. 11.Sec. 19.

When is a design published, and who can object?

Sec. 21A(1) requires the Department to publish designs registered under Sec. 14, and trade marks registered under Sec. 18, along with renewals and cancellations, "for the information of the public".

Registration comes first on that wording, and publication follows. It is the reverse of what many readers expect from other systems.

Sec. 21A(2) gives anyone with an objection 35 days from the date of publication to complain to the Department, which then holds inquiries.

The 90-day figure belongs to trademark opposition, counted from Bulletin publication. Applying it to a design would leave you fifty-five days late, and the Act gives no cure for that.

Can the Department cancel a registered design?

Yes. Sec. 14(3) lets the Department cancel a registration where it is satisfied that one of the Sec. 14(1) circumstances exists.

The proviso attaches a hearing. The Department must give the design holder "reasonable opportunity to show cause" before cancelling.

That is a real protection, and it is also a reason to keep your contact details with the Department current — a notice you never receive is still a notice.

The life of a Nepali design rightA timeline with five points. Filing under Section 13 with four copies of the design. Registration and the certificate under Section 14. Publication under Section 21A, which opens a thirty-five day objection window. The first term of five years under Section 14A. Then two renewals of five years each under Section 23B, reaching a fifteen-year ceiling after which the right cannot be extended.Filing to ceiling, as the Act writes itThe clock starts at registration, not at filingSec. 13.File, four copies.Sec. 14.Register, certify.Sec. 21A.35 days to object.Sec. 14A.Five years run.Sec. 23B.Renew twice.Renewal is a 35-day window.It runs from expiry, with a further sixmonths late, then automatic cancellation.Fifteen years is the end.There is no third renewal, and norestoration once the ceiling is reached.Plan the product's commercial life against fifteen years.A shape still selling in year sixteen is unprotected by this route.
A design is the shortest-lived registered right in the Act, and the ceiling is absolute.

What happens if someone copies a registered design?

Sec. 15 is the penalty section. A person who contravenes Sec. 12(2), or operates a design the Department has invalidated, may be fined.

The same section adds that "articles and goods connected with such offense shall be confiscated on the order of the Department", as per the gravity of the offence.

So the confiscation power sits with the Department of Industry, not with a court. The 2006 amendment inserted that gravity-of-offence wording.

Sec. 25 separately allows the Department to order compensation to a title holder who suffered loss. Whether a court claim is also open is a question for an advocate.

Does a foreign design registration reach Nepal?

No. Sec. 21B states it plainly: title to a patent, design or trade mark registered in a foreign country "shall not be valid in Nepal unless it is registered in Nepal".

Sec. 21C softens the procedure, letting the Department register a foreign-registered right without conducting enquiries where the foreign certificate is filed with the application.

The same section, as amended in 2006, says the Department shall provide the facility pursuant to the Paris Convention. Nepal acceded to Paris in 2001.

Nepal is not a party to the Hague Agreement for designs — that was the position when we last read WIPO's party list in mid-2026, so re-check it before relying on it. We explain the consequences in why Nepal is not in the Hague system.

What is not in the Act at all?

Quite a lot. There is no grace period for a pre-filing disclosure, no partial-design or Locarno classification provision, and no deferred publication.

There is also no unregistered design right. If the shape is not on the register, the Act gives you nothing to enforce under it, which is part of how a product design is actually protected here.

And there is no customs or border provision anywhere in this statute. The words customs, border and seizure do not appear in it.

What the Act gives, and what it leaves outA two column checklist. On the left, what the Act supplies: a definition in Section 2(b), title on registration under Section 12, an application with four copies under Section 13, four bars in the Section 14 proviso, a five year term under Section 14A, publication and a thirty five day objection window under Section 21A, renewal twice under Section 23B, and a fine with confiscation under Section 15. On the right, what it does not contain: a novelty test, a grace period for disclosure, an unregistered design right, deferred publication, a design classification, and any customs or border measure.Read the gaps as carefully as the textThe right-hand column is where advice is actually neededIn the ActA definition, Sec. 2(b).Title on registration, Sec. 12.Four copies filed, Sec. 13.Four bars, the Sec. 14 proviso.Five-year term, Sec. 14A.Publication plus 35 days, Sec. 21A.Renewal twice, Sec. 23B.Fine and confiscation, Sec. 15.Not in the ActA novelty or originality test.A grace period after disclosure.Any unregistered design right.Deferred or delayed publication.A design classification system.Customs, border or seizure powers.A partial-design filing.Any international filing route.
Everything on the right is a real gap in the statute, not an omission from this article.

What should you do before you file?

  1. Decide what you are protecting. Shape goes to design, function to patent, the name and logo to trade mark.
  2. Keep the shape confidential. The Act gives no grace period, so treat public disclosure as a risk you cannot undo.
  3. Prepare drawings you can file four copies of. Sec. 13 wants maps, drawings and particulars, not a photograph of a prototype.
  4. Check the register for an earlier identical design. That is the fourth bar in the Sec. 14 proviso.
  5. Diarise 35 days from publication. Both for your own objections and for the risk of someone else's.
  6. Diarise the renewal. Five years from registration, then once more, then the right ends.

How does this sit beside a trade mark?

Most products need both, because they answer different questions. The design protects the shape of the bottle; the mark protects the name on the label.

Trade marks are filed in a NICE classification class, published in the Industrial Property Bulletin, and carry a registration certificate and an unlimited renewal path.

You can check what is already published in our trademark database, or line up a class with the NICE class finder. Neither covers designs, which the Department does not publish in that bulletin.

A worked example

This is an illustration, not a real case. A Bhaktapur workshop develops a water jug with a distinctive twisted body and files a design application.

The shape is registrable on the Act's terms: it is the form of a manufactured material, it offends none of the four bars, and nobody else has registered it.

Registration issues in year one, publication follows, and nobody objects within the 35 days. The workshop then has until year six to renew, and until year sixteen before the right is gone for good.

If a rival copies the twist, Sec. 12(2) and Sec. 15 are the provisions in play. If the rival copies the brand name instead, that is a trade mark filing and a different timetable.

Common mistakes

  • Using the trademark 90-day figure for a design, when Sec. 21A gives 35 days.
  • Counting the five years from filing rather than from registration, as Sec. 14A requires.
  • Assuming a third renewal exists. Sec. 23B(3) says not more than twice.
  • Launching the product first, on the assumption that a grace period exists. It does not.
  • Filing a functional improvement as a design, when the question is really a patent one.
  • Relying on a foreign registration, which Sec. 21B makes invalid here on its own.
  • Sending fewer than the four copies Sec. 13(1) requires.

Where does IP Sewa help?

We handle industrial design filings and the renewal diary that goes with them, as well as the trade mark work that usually sits alongside.

What we will not do is tell you how a court would read Sec. 2(b) against a surface pattern. That is an advocate's question, and the wording is untested in most of the ways people ask about. Shorter questions are answered in our IP FAQs.

In short

Nepal's design right is created by registration, defined narrowly as form and shape, gated by four bars rather than a novelty test, and capped at fifteen years.

The deadlines that matter are 35 days to object after publication and 35 days to renew after expiry, and both are short enough to be missed by anyone not watching for them.

People also search for

If you have drawings and a launch date, the order you do things in matters more than anything on this page — send us the drawings and the date and we will tell you what to file first.

#guide#industrial-design#design-rights
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