A Nepali exporter gets design protection in Europe with a registered EU design from the EUIPO, and in the USA with a US design patent from the USPTO. Neither covers Nepal, and a Nepal registration covers neither market. File before you show the product abroad, and use your Nepal filing's six-month priority.
Key takeaways
- A registered EU design covers every EU member state and can last up to 25 years, renewed every five years.
- A US design patent is examined before grant and lasts 15 years from grant, with no renewal.
- Nepal is not in the Hague System, so a Nepali company can use it only through a real establishment in a member country.
- As a Paris Convention member, a Nepal design filing gives you six months to file in the EU or USA with the same priority date.
- Under Sec. 21B of the Patent, Design and Trademark Act 1965, a foreign registration has no force in Nepal; protect the design at home too.
What does design protection cover in the EU and the USA?
The look of a product, not how it works. Both systems protect visible features such as shape, lines, contours, surface pattern and ornament, and both cover items like packaging and screen icons.
A design right may suit a felt bag, a tea tin, a pashmina pattern, a lamp shade or a furniture frame. If the value lies in how a product works, look at a patent instead; our guide to patents versus designs explains the line.
Who grants the rights?
The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) registers EU designs, which were called registered Community designs before the EU's 2025 design reform. One filing covers all EU member states.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) examines and grants design patents.
Nepal's Department of Industry is separate from both, so neither office's decision has any effect in Nepal.
How do the EU and US rights differ?
The biggest difference is examination. The EUIPO checks mainly formalities and registers quickly, leaving validity to be challenged later. The USPTO examines a design patent application against earlier designs before it grants anything.
| Point | Registered EU design | US design patent |
|---|---|---|
| Office | EUIPO | USPTO |
| Territory | All EU member states | United States |
| Review before grant | Mainly formalities | Substantive examination |
| Term | Up to 25 years | 15 years from grant |
| Renewal | Every five years | None |
| Unregistered right | Three years, from disclosure in the EU | None |
| Grace for your own disclosure | 12 months | One year |
| Hague System | Member | Member |
Grace periods protect only against your own earlier disclosure, and rules differ in detail. Confirm the current position with a representative in each market before you rely on one.
Can a Nepali business use the Hague System?
Usually not directly. The EU and the USA are both members of WIPO's Hague System for international designs, but Nepal is not on WIPO's Hague membership list.
To file through Hague, an applicant needs a link to a member, such as nationality there or a real and effective business establishment. A Nepali group's EU subsidiary could file through Hague in its own name; a company exporting only from Kathmandu cannot. Our guide to why Nepal isn't in the Hague System explains the rules.
How does Paris Convention priority help?
Nepal has been a Paris Convention member since 2001. If you file a design in Nepal first, you have six months to file the same design in the EU or the USA and claim the Nepal filing date as your priority date.
That means a trade fair photo posted after your Nepal filing, but before your foreign filings, is less dangerous.
The priority claim needs a copy of the Nepal application, so keep the filing papers safe; our industrial design service handles the Nepal filing.
How do you file a registered EU design?
File at the EUIPO with clear views of the product and the product indication, such as "bags" or "lamps".
Several designs can go in one multiple application, which helps a workshop with a range of related products.
Because the EUIPO checks mainly formalities, registration is usually quick, but a competitor can later ask for it to be declared invalid. Good images matter: the views you file define the scope of the right.
How does a US design patent work?
A US design patent claims the ornamental design for an article, shown in drawings. The USPTO examines it, may object, and grants it only once the objections are answered.
Examination takes longer than an EU registration, and drawings follow strict rules. The right lasts 15 years from grant and needs no renewal.
Our guide to patents at the USPTO covers the office in more detail, and the EU patent guide covers the European side for inventions.
What should a Nepali exporter prepare?
- Freeze the design. Decide the exact appearance before any images are made.
- Make clean views. Front, back, sides, top, bottom and a perspective view, on a plain background.
- Confirm ownership. Get a written assignment from any outside designer or workshop.
- File in Nepal. This starts the six-month priority clock.
- Appoint representatives. Give each a power of attorney for the EUIPO and the USPTO.
- File abroad in time. Claim the Nepal priority date in both offices.
- Keep the certificates. File each registration certificate and renewal date together.
What goes wrong with design images?
Most weak design rights fail on the pictures. A view that hides the base, a busy background or a photo with a logo on it can leave out features you wanted, or add ones you did not mean to claim.
Use the same views for every office where possible, so the EU, US and Nepal rights cover the same design. If the product comes in colours, decide whether colour is part of the design before you file.
When is it safe to show the design?
After the first filing. A buyer's catalogue, a trade fair stand, an online shop or a social media post can all make a design public, and a public design can defeat a later application.
Grace periods in the EU and the USA forgive some of your own early disclosure, but Nepal's Act has no such rule, and rival copies made in the meantime are a separate problem.
Filing first is safer than relying on grace, and it costs you nothing extra to do it in that order.
Does an EU or US right protect the design in Nepal?
No. Sec. 21B of the Act, published by the Nepal Law Commission, says a design registered in a foreign country is not valid in Nepal unless it is registered here.
Sec. 12 ties title in a Nepal design to registration under Sec. 14.
Sec. 14 also refuses a design already registered to someone else, so Nepal effectively works on a first-to-file basis. A local copier who registers first can block you at home.
How long does each right last?
A registered EU design lasts in five-year periods up to 25 years. A US design patent lasts 15 years from grant, with nothing to renew.
In Nepal, a design lasts five years from registration under Sec. 14A and can be renewed twice under Sec. 23B, for up to 15 years. The renewal term runs from each country's own date, so track them separately; our design renewal guide covers the Nepal deadline.
What if someone copies the design abroad?
You enforce where you hold the right. An EU design is enforced through courts in EU member states, and a US design patent through US federal courts, so you will need a lawyer in that market.
Keep proof of your filing dates, the filed images and any evidence of the copy. A registration that matches the product exactly makes the case far simpler.
How do the costs compare?
Official fees and representative charges differ between the two offices, and a US design patent usually costs more to obtain because it is examined. An EU design then needs a renewal fee every five years; a US design patent has none.
Budget for both markets before the launch, not after a copy appears. For the Nepal side, the patent registration service can also advise when a product needs a patent rather than a design; contact us for a quote.
Do you also need a trademark?
Often. A design protects the shape or pattern; the brand name on the product needs a trademark in each market. Nepal's trademark filings are made at the Department of Industry, one class at a time.
Map the brand's classes with the NICE class finder before you approach foreign buyers; our trademark registration service files the Nepal side. See also our guide to IP protection for Nepali exporters.
Common mistakes
- Showing the product before filing anywhere. A public design can defeat your own application.
- Missing the six-month priority window. After it, the Nepal date no longer helps abroad.
- Assuming Hague is open to you. It needs a real link to a member country.
- Filing poor images. The views you file set the scope of the right.
- Forgetting Nepal. A foreign right gives no protection at home.
- Leaving the designer's ownership unsigned. Get the assignment in writing first.
What does a two-market plan look like?
This is an illustration, not a real case. "Felt Mountain", a Bhaktapur workshop, has designed a new felt bag and has buyers lined up in Germany and California.
It files the design in Nepal first, then files a registered EU design and a US design patent within six months, claiming the Nepal date. Only then does it send photos to its buyers.
Filing in that order avoids a German or American copy of its own bag being registered first.
In short
Use a registered EU design for Europe and a US design patent for the USA; Hague is open to Nepali firms only through a real presence in a member country. File in Nepal first and use the six-month priority window for the rest.
Keep the design secret until the first filing, and keep a Nepal registration for the home market. For help with the Nepal side, our industrial design service can prepare the filing.
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Exporting a new product design? Contact IP Sewa and we will plan the Nepal filing and the priority timeline.
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