• 30 Jul, 2026
  • Updated 15 Oct, 2026
  • Patents & Designs
  • IP Sewa Admin
  • 14 min read

Industrial design registration in Nepal protects the shape a product is made in. You file at the Department of Industry under the Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act, 2022 (1965). The right runs five years from registration and can be renewed twice, so fifteen years is the ceiling.

Key takeaways

  • One statute covers it: the Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act, 2022 (1965), and Sec. 13 is the application provision.
  • The Act's own definition is narrow — Sec. 2(b) calls a design "the form or shape of any material manufactured in any manner".
  • Sec. 14A gives a five-year term from the date of registration, not from filing.
  • Sec. 23B makes it renewable not more than twice, five years at a time, so the maximum life is fifteen years.
  • After publication there are 35 days to complain under Sec. 21A — not the 90 days people quote for trademarks.
  • The Department's own checklist asks for four copies of the drawings and a statement of claim showing originality.
  • Nepal is not in the Hague system, so a foreign design registration does not reach Nepal on its own.

What does an industrial design actually protect?

Appearance, not function. A design right covers how a manufactured article looks, and leaves how it works to the patent system.

The Act's wording is tighter than the international phrase most guides use. Sec. 2(b) defines a design as "the form or shape of any material manufactured in any manner", which reads as shape first and ornament second.

In practice the Department registers designs across furniture, packaging, containers, textiles and household goods. If you are relying on surface pattern alone rather than shape, it is worth asking an advocate how that definition is being applied before you spend on drawings.

How is a design different from a patent or a trademark?

Three rights, one office, three different questions. The design asks what the article looks like; the patent asks what it does; the trademark asks what it is called.

A single product can carry all three. A water bottle may have a registrable shape, a patentable closure and a brand name on the label, and a clearance search only answers the third of those.

They also expire differently, which is the part that catches owners out. Our comparison of patents against industrial designs sets the two side by side.

Three rights, one officeThree cards. Industrial design protects the form or shape of a manufactured article under section 2b, lasts five years from registration and may be renewed twice. Patent protects a new and useful invention under section 5, lasts seven years and may be renewed twice. Trademark protects a word, symbol or picture that distinguishes goods or services under section 2c, lasts seven years and may be renewed without limit.Same department, three different questionsDesignWhat does it look like?Form or shape of an article.Defined in Sec. 2(b).Four copies of drawings.Five years from registration.Renewable twice, no more.15 yearsis the ceilingPatentWhat does it do?A new and useful invention.Tested under Sec. 5.Specification and drawings.Seven years once registered.Renewable twice, no more.21 yearsis the ceilingTrademarkWhat is it called?A word, symbol or picture.Defined in Sec. 2(c).Four specimens of the mark.Seven years once registered.Renewable without limit.No ceilingif you keep renewing
The renewal ceiling is the practical difference. A trademark can outlive its owner; a design cannot pass fifteen years.

Does the Act require a design to be new?

Not in those words, and this is worth being precise about. The words "novelty", "novel" and "prior art" do not appear in the Act, and "original" appears once, in a patent provision about who the inventor was.

Sec. 14's proviso lists the statutory bars instead: a design is not registered if it hurts the prestige of a person or institution, adversely affects public conduct or morality, undermines the national interest, or has already been registered in someone else's name.

Originality still matters in practice. The Department's own document checklist asks for a statement of claim reflecting originality, and practitioners describe examination as testing novelty and originality — so treat prior disclosure as a real risk, without citing the Act for a test it does not spell out.

Should you keep the design confidential before filing?

Yes, as a matter of ordinary caution. A launch, a listing, a trade-fair stand or a social post all create dated evidence that the shape was already public.

Nepal operates first-to-file in practice across industrial property, so an earlier valid application beats a longer history of quiet use.

Confidentiality agreements with a manufacturer or studio help, but they are a contract, not a right against the world. Filing is what converts the shape into something you can enforce.

Which documents does the Department ask for?

The Department publishes its own checklist for a domestic design filing, and it is short. Reading it beats reading a summary of it.

ItemWhy it is asked for
Application for design registration.The form prescribed under Sec. 13.
Measurements and drawings, four copies.These define what the registration covers.
Statement of claim showing originality.The applicant's own case that the shape is theirs.
Designer's name, address and occupation.Identifies who created the design.
Receipt for the application fee.Sec. 13(2) requires the fee with the application.
Power of attorney, if an agent files.Sec. 20 lets you appoint a representative.

A foreign applicant adds three things: evidence of any priority-date claim, a certified copy of the foreign design registration certificate, and a power of attorney with an address for correspondence in Nepal.

How do you file a design application?

The sequence is short, and most of the work sits before the filing rather than after it.

  1. Freeze the design. Decide which article carries it and which version you are protecting, because the drawings define the scope.
  2. Draw it properly. Plan, elevation and side views at minimum, with a perspective view where the shape is hard to read from flat views.
  3. Settle ownership. Confirm in writing with the designer, studio, contractor or manufacturer before anyone files.
  4. Look at what already exists. There is no public design register to search, so compare against catalogues, shops and competitor products.
  5. Assemble the papers. Work from the Department's checklist above rather than a blog's version of it.
  6. File and keep the receipt. Our industrial design service prepares and lodges the application.
  7. Answer what comes back. Respond to any query about the drawings, the originality statement or the formalities.
  8. Watch the publication. Note the date, because the 35-day clock starts there.
The route a design application takesFive stages read downwards. File under section 13 with the form, four copies of the drawings and the fee. The Department examines the application and the originality claim. Publication follows under section 21A. Thirty five days run for any person to complain. If nothing blocks it, the design is registered and the certificate issues, and the five year term runs from that date.From drawings to certificateSec. 13.FileForm, four copies of drawings, the fee.ExamineThe Department reviews itDrawings, formalities, originality claim.Sec. 21A.PublicationThe design is published for the public.35 daysAnyone may complainNot 90 days. That figure is for trademarks.Sec. 14A.Certificate and termFive years, counted from registration.
The 35-day step is the one people get wrong, usually by importing the trademark figure into a design file.

What happens after publication?

Sec. 21A(1) tells the Department to publish registered designs and trademarks along with details of renewal and cancellation. Sec. 21A(2) then gives anyone with an objection 35 days from that publication to complain.

So the design opposition period is 35 days, and the 90 days quoted everywhere online belongs to trademark practice. Putting the trademark figure in a design diary is a real way to lose a challenge.

Note the sequence the Act describes: it publishes designs already registered under Sec. 14. Practitioners describe publication coming before registration is completed. Where the statute and practice read differently, ask an advocate how your own file will run.

How long does design protection last?

Sec. 14A fixes the term at five years from the date of registration, which is the date on the registration certificate and not the date you filed.

Sec. 23B then allows renewal for five years at a time, "not more than twice". Two renewals on a five-year base gives a hard ceiling of fifteen years.

That ceiling is the single most important planning fact here. A product you expect to sell for twenty years cannot be protected by design registration for the whole of it.

What is the renewal deadline?

Sec. 23B asks the holder to renew within 35 days from the date the term expires, which is an unusually short window.

There is a late route. Renewal may still be made on payment of a fine within six months after that time limit, and if it is not, the registration is automatically cancelled.

The Department's renewal checklist asks for the application, the original registration certificate, the fee receipt and the power of attorney if an agent acts. Our renewal calculator turns a registration date into the dates you need in the diary.

Five, plus five, plus fiveA timeline in three blocks. The first block is the initial five year term counted from registration. The second and third blocks are the first and second renewals, five years each. After the third block a red stop marker shows that no further renewal is available, giving a maximum of fifteen years. Below, a note says renewal is due within thirty five days of expiry, with a late route of six months on payment of a fine.A design cannot be renewed foreverYears 1 to 5Initial term, Sec. 14A.Runs from registration.Years 6 to 10First renewal, Sec. 23B.Five years at a time.Years 11 to 15Second renewal.The last one allowed.After year 15 there is no further renewal.The shape falls into the public domain, whatever the product is still earning.On timeRenew within 35 days of expiry.The ordinary route under Sec. 23B.LateSix months more, with a fine.Miss that and it is cancelled.
Fifteen years is the whole of it, and the short renewal window is why a design file needs a calendar entry, not a memory.

Who should be named as the applicant?

The person or company that owns the design, which is not automatically the person who paid for it. The Department's checklist asks separately for the designer's name, address and occupation.

That split is where disputes start. A freelance designer, a design studio or a factory that supplied the tooling may all have a claim unless the arrangement was written down before the work began.

Fix it on paper first. Once the certificate is issued in the wrong name, correcting it means a transfer under Sec. 21D, which needs a joint application from both sides.

Where can you check a design before filing?

Nowhere public, and that is an honest answer rather than a gap in this guide. Nepal has no searchable online design register, so there is no equivalent of a trademark database for shapes.

What you can do is compare against the market: competitor catalogues, retail shelves, importer listings and the product pages of the brands you are up against. The Department of Industry site is the place to check its current forms and notices.

The brand side is easier. Our trademark database covers marks published in the Industrial Property Bulletin, and a conflict check will tell you quickly whether the product name is already taken.

Do designs use NICE classes?

No. The NICE classification is a trademark tool, and Sec. 18A — the classification provision — sits in the trademark chapter.

A design application is tied to the article and the drawings instead, so there is no class to choose and nothing to split across classes.

Classes come back the moment you also protect the product's name. Use the NICE class finder for that part, and our trademark registration service for the filing.

Does a foreign design registration cover Nepal?

No. Sec. 21B says a right registered in a foreign country is not valid in Nepal unless it is registered here too.

There is also no international short cut. Nepal is not a party to the Hague Agreement on industrial designs — WIPO's own party list showed 85 parties without Nepal when we last read it in mid-2026, and several of Nepal's neighbours are absent as well, so a single South Asian design filing does not exist.

Sec. 21C does ease the route. The Department may register a foreign-registered design without conducting enquiries where the foreign certificate is filed with the application.

What it covers, and what it does notA two by two grid. Top left, a design registration covers the form or shape shown in your drawings, the article you named, copying without permission, and the views you actually filed. Top right, it does not cover how the product works, the brand name on it, a shape you never drew, or anything after year fifteen. Bottom left, the Act does say who may not register, that the term runs from registration, that thirty five days run from publication, and that a fine and confiscation follow copying. Bottom right, the Act does not say anything about novelty, prior art, a search route, or the Hague system.Scope on top, statute underneathYour registrationThe statuteIt does coverThe shape shown in your drawings.The article you named on the form.Copying without written permission.Only the views you actually filed.It does sayFour grounds for refusing a design.Five years, run from registration.Thirty five days from publication.A fine, plus confiscated goods.It does not coverHow the product actually works.The brand name printed on it.A variant you never drew.Anything at all after year 15.It does not sayNovelty, anywhere in the text.Prior art, or how to search it.That a public design register exists.One word about the Hague system.
The bottom right box is the honest part. Several things everyone assumes are in the Act are simply not written in it.

What can you do if someone copies the shape?

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

Sec. 15 backs that with a penalty: a fine set by the Department according to the gravity of the offence, and confiscation of the articles and goods connected with it.

An unregistered shape has far less to work with. If a competing design has just been published, our opposition and enforcement service can assess the window you have.

Common mistakes

  • Using the trademark 35-day figure for the wrong thing. Designs get 35 days; trademarks get 90 in practice.
  • Counting the term from the filing date. Sec. 14A runs it from registration.
  • Assuming renewal is unlimited. Two renewals, then the design is over.
  • Launching first and filing later. Public disclosure is exactly the evidence an objector wants.
  • Submitting too few views. What the drawings do not show, the registration does not cover.
  • Treating a mechanism as a design. A working part belongs in a patent application.
  • Letting the designer keep the rights. Put ownership in writing before anyone files.

How would this work for one product?

Take a Kathmandu workshop making a carved wooden lamp under the name Koshi Glow. This is an illustration, not a real case.

The lamp's carved body and silhouette are the design application. The name is a separate trademark filing, and a novel heat-control fitting would be a third, separate patent question.

The workshop files the design before the launch, notes the publication date, diarises the 35-day complaint window, and then puts three more dates in the calendar: year five, year ten and year fifteen, when the right ends for good.

In short

File before you launch, draw the article properly, work from the Department's own checklist, and count the term from registration rather than from filing.

Then plan for the ceiling. Fifteen years is the maximum a Nepali design registration can give you, so pair it with a trademark that can be renewed indefinitely. The Nepal Law Commission publishes the statutory text if you want to read the sections yourself, and our FAQ page covers the questions that come up most.

People also search for

If you have drawings and a launch date, the sequence matters more than anything else on this page — tell us where the product is and we will tell you what to do first.

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