How to Check Trademark Application Status at the DoI

To check your trademark application status in Nepal, ask the Department of Industry (DoI) with your application number, or ask the agent who filed for you. As of our last check, the DoI has no public online status tracker. Once your mark is published, IP Sewa's application-number lookup shows the bulletin issue it appeared in.

Key takeaways

• Your application number is the key to every status check. Each class has its own application and its own number.
• Only the Department of Industry can confirm the official status of a file, including objections and registration.
• Public tools, including IP Sewa's lookup, can only find a mark after it is published in the Industrial Property Bulletin.
• Publication is not registration. It opens a 90-day window for anyone to oppose the mark.
• A quiet file is usually a waiting file. Months can pass between filing and publication.
• Keep your address current with the DoI so its letters reach you.

Can you check trademark status online in Nepal?

Not directly, as of our last check. The DoI's Industrial Property Section page lists filing checklists and links to the Industrial Property Bulletin, but we found no public page where you enter an application number and see its stage. So official status comes from the DoI itself, usually through the agent who filed.

Two public sources help at specific points. The bulletin shows when a mark has been published. IP Sewa's application-number lookup searches the bulletins we have processed and returns the mark, owner, class and bulletin issue. Neither shows a file that is still in examination.

If IP Sewa filed your application, you can also follow its stage in your client portal, which our team updates as the file moves at the DoI.

What stages does a Nepal trademark application pass through?

The DoI does not publish a public list of status labels, so it helps to think in stages. Under the Patent, Design and Trademark Act 1965, which you can read on the Nepal Law Commission website, every application moves through the same broad route.

• Filed. The DoI receives your form, specimens and documents, and gives the application a number.
• Examination. The DoI checks the mark against earlier marks and the refusal grounds in Sec. 18. If it has a concern, it gives you a chance to respond.
• Published. A mark that qualifies appears in the Industrial Property Bulletin. From here it is public.
• Opposition window. Anyone may object within 90 days of the bulletin date. Rely on the deadline the Department of Industry states and act before the last day.
• Certificate. If no objection succeeds, you pay the registration fee and receive the registration certificate.

The whole route typically takes about 12–14 months when nobody opposes, and 6–8 months only in the smoothest cases. In IP Sewa's bulletin archive, the gap between a mark's filing date and its publication varies a lot from one issue to the next, so a long silence is not by itself a bad sign.

How do you ask the DoI for your application's status?

A status enquiry goes faster when you bring the right details and ask specific questions. If an agent filed for you under a power of attorney, the agent usually makes the enquiry and receives the DoI's letters.

1. Find your application number. It is on your filing receipt. If you filed in several classes, you have several numbers.
2. Gather your filing copies. Bring the receipt, a copy of the form, the specimen of the mark and the applicant's name exactly as filed.
3. Contact the DoI or your agent. The DoI's office is in Tripureshwor, Kathmandu. Quote the number for each class.
4. Ask four questions. What stage is the file at? Is any action pending from me? Is there a deadline? Are any documents missing?
5. Write down the answer. Note the date, the stage, any deadline and who you spoke to.
6. Act on it. Answer an objection or send a missing document before the deadline, and keep proof that you did.

Lost the number? If the mark has already been published, the owner and applicant search lists published marks by owner name, with their application numbers. Otherwise, ask the DoI with the applicant's name, the mark and the filing date.

When should you chase the DoI?

The Act sets no public timetable for examination, so patience is part of the process. Waiting does not cost you your place, either. Nepal is first-to-file, and your filing date is fixed the day the DoI receives a complete application, however long examination takes.

Some moments do call for a check, though:

• Every few months during examination. A short enquiry confirms nothing is pending from you.
• As soon as a DoI letter arrives. Letters usually carry a deadline, and that deadline matters more than any other date.
• When the 90-day window closes. Publication and objections are dealt with under Sec. 21A of the Act. If nobody objected, ask what you need to do to pay the registration fee and collect the certificate.
• When anything about you changes. A new address, a new company name or a change of owner should be recorded before the next letter goes out.

If you filed in more than one NICE class, run each check for each application. One class can be published while another is still in examination.

How do you confirm that your mark was published?

Enter your application number in IP Sewa's lookup. If the mark has been published, you will see its name, class, owner and the bulletin volume and number. The bulletins print application numbers as plain digits, often with a leading zero, so copy them from your receipt. You can also open the issue itself on the DoI's Industrial Property Bulletin page.

Record the bulletin's publication date. The 90-day opposition window runs from that date, not from the day you found the entry. A brand-new issue may not be in our archive for a short while after the DoI publishes it, so check the DoI's PDF if you expect a very recent publication.

What if the DoI cannot find your file?

It happens occasionally, usually because of a mistyped number or a name spelled differently from the form. Check the number digit by digit against your receipt, then give the DoI the applicant's name exactly as filed, the mark, the class and the filing date.

Your filing receipt is your proof that the application was lodged and when. Do not file a second application just because the first is hard to find: a duplicate can raise questions about which filing date counts. Ask the DoI, or your agent, to trace the original file first.

What if your application is objected to, opposed or refused?

Each of these is a different event, and each has its own next step. Do not change the mark or file a fresh application before you know which one you face.

• An examination objection. Under Sec. 18(1), the DoI gives the applicant a chance to defend the mark before it decides. Answer the specific concern, with evidence, by the deadline in the letter.
• An opposition. Once someone objects after publication, the DoI holds back the certificate and hears both sides. You will need a written response. Our opposition and enforcement team handles these.
• A refusal. Under Sec. 27 of the Act, a DoI decision can be appealed to the High Court within 35 days. Ask a lawyer promptly, because the clock does not wait.

If you simply want to stop, a withdrawal is a separate step. Filing a second application for the same mark while the first is pending only adds confusion.

What records should you keep while you wait?

The DoI's own application form asks you to promise to record any change in your details within one week. Keep that promise: a letter sent to an old address can cost you a deadline. Our guide to change of address and name applications explains how. Keep one folder for each application.

Common mistakes

• Searching by brand name instead of number. Several marks can share a word. The number identifies your file.
• Using the company registration number. It has nothing to do with your trademark file.
• Treating publication as registration. A published mark can still be opposed, and the certificate comes later.
• Checking one class only. Each class is a separate application and can move at a different pace.
• Filing again because the file is quiet. A duplicate adds work and raises questions about which filing date counts.
• Using ® too early. Only a registered mark may carry it. Sec. 18B bars presenting an unregistered mark as registered.

An example: tracking a spice brand

Here is an illustration, not a real case. A Dharan spice company files "Masalaya" in Class 30 through an agent. For months the lookup finds nothing, which the owner now knows is normal before publication. The agent checks with the DoI twice and reports "still in examination, nothing pending".

Then the lookup shows the mark in a new bulletin. The owner notes the issue and the publication date, and diaries the end of the 90-day window. No objection is filed, the registration fee is paid, and the certificate arrives. The owner records the seven-year renewal date the same day and starts using the mark on packets straight away.

In short

Trademark application status in Nepal comes from the DoI, usually through your agent, and your application number is the key. Public tools can only confirm a mark after it is published, so an empty result before then is normal. Record the bulletin date, watch the 90-day window, and answer any DoI letter on time. Once registered, a mark lasts seven years and is renewable for further seven-year terms. The renewal calculator works out your dates, and our trademark renewal service keeps those dates for you.

People also search for

• What is the trademark application process in Nepal?
• How do I check if a trademark is registered?
• How do I withdraw a trademark application in Nepal?
• How do I record a change of address or name?
• How do I fill the trademark application form?

Waiting on a file and not sure where it stands? Send us the application number and we will find out what the DoI needs from you.