The industrial design timeline runs from Britain's 1787 law protecting new textile patterns for two months, one of the earliest design laws, through the Paris Convention, the Hague Agreement and TRIPS, to Nepal's Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act 1965 (PDTA). Each step changed how long, and how widely, a product's look can be protected.
Key takeaways
- Britain's 1787 law, one of the earliest, protected textile patterns for just two months.
- The Paris Convention (1883) covers industrial designs and gives a six-month priority period; Nepal joined in 2001.
- The Hague Agreement (1925) allows one international filing, but Nepal is not a member.
- TRIPS (1994) requires at least ten years of design protection; Nepal joined the WTO in 2004.
- Under the PDTA, a Nepali design lasts five years from registration and is renewable twice, so 15 years at most.
- Designs are filed at the Department of Industry (DoI), and anyone may object within 35 days of publication.
What is an industrial design, and why does its history matter?
An industrial design is the look of a manufactured product: its shape, pattern or ornament. Nepal's PDTA defines a "design", in Sec. 2, as "the form or shape of any material manufactured in any manner." It protects appearance, not how the product works.
The history matters because each rule a product maker meets today, from the term to the priority period and filing country by country, started at a particular moment. Knowing them explains why a design registered abroad does not reach Nepal.
When did design protection begin?
In Britain, it began with cloth. In 1787 Parliament passed "An Act for the Encouragement of the Arts of designing and printing Linens, Cottons, Callicoes, and Muslins". It covered anyone who designed and printed a new and original pattern for those fabrics.
The right lasted only two months, as the UK Intellectual Property Office's history blog records. The short term shows its purpose: stopping rivals copying a print during its selling season.
How did Britain's register of 1839 change products?
Before 1839, the UK National Archives notes, most decorative goods, such as glass, ceramics and wallpaper, had no protection. The 1839 law reached all "ornamental" designs, and makers had to submit them to a new Designs Registry at the Board of Trade.
The Ornamental Designs Act 1842 replaced it and introduced the diamond-shaped registration mark seen on Victorian goods; a Utility Designs Act followed in 1843. The United States also began granting design patents in 1842, and the University of New Hampshire's IP Mall records that the first, issued on 9 November 1842, covered a typeface.
What did the Paris Convention of 1883 add?
The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property was concluded in 1883 and applies to industrial designs as well as patents and marks. WIPO's summary notes that industrial designs must be protected in each contracting state.
Its most useful tool is priority: file a design in one member country, and you have six months to file in another while keeping the first date. WIPO Lex lists Nepal's accession as in force from 22 June 2001.
The PDTA names the treaty once: Sec. 21C, in wording added in 2006, tells the DoI to give Paris Convention facilities to a foreign registration holder.
How did one bottle show what design law can do?
Coca-Cola's contour bottle is a shape that became a brand. The company's own history says a patent on the bottle was granted on 16 November 1915. It dates the bottle's recognition as a trademark to 12 April 1961, though other accounts, including a Coca-Cola media page, give 1960.
A design right ends; a famous shape may need other protection later. In Nepal a design lasts 15 years at most, and whether a shape can also be a trademark here is a question for a lawyer. For similar stories, see everyday products that began as patents.
Why did the Hague Agreement and Locarno matter?
The Hague Agreement on industrial designs was concluded in 1925 and revised at London in 1934 and The Hague in 1960. A Geneva Act followed in 1999. The system lets an applicant file one application with WIPO's International Bureau to seek protection in many countries.
The Locarno Agreement of 1968 then set up a shared classification for industrial designs. One Hague application may hold up to 100 designs, but only if they all fall in the same Locarno class.
Nepal is in neither. When we read WIPO Lex on 16 October 2026, the Hague table listed 85 members and no South Asian country, so a Hague filing gives no right in Nepal.
What minimum did TRIPS set for designs?
The WTO's TRIPS Agreement of 1994 turned design protection into a trade obligation. Article 25(1) requires members to protect independently created industrial designs that are new or original. Article 26(1) lets the owner stop others making, selling or importing copies for commercial purposes.
Article 26(3) adds that protection must last at least ten years. Nepal became a WTO member on 23 April 2004. Its PDTA allows up to 15 years, which is above that floor.
How do the key moments compare at a glance?
Each moment, what it changed for a product, and where Nepal stands:
| Year | Moment | What it changed for products | Nepal's position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1787 | UK textile printing act | New print patterns protected for two months. | No equivalent. |
| 1839–1843 | UK design registry and later acts | Ornamental, then useful, designs registered. | No equivalent. |
| 1883 | Paris Convention | Designs covered; six-month priority. | Member since 2001. |
| 1925 | Hague Agreement | One international design filing. | Not a member. |
| 1965 | Nepal's PDTA | Designs registered at the DoI. | The law in force. |
| 1968 | Locarno Agreement | Shared design classification. | Not a member. |
| 1994 | TRIPS Agreement | At least ten years of protection. | WTO member since 2004. |
| 2001 | EU design regulation | One EU-wide right, up to 25 years. | Does not cover Nepal. |
The EU row is Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 of 12 December 2001, which as adopted allowed a registered design five-year terms up to 25 years.
When did Nepal start protecting designs?
Earlier than most people think. Sec. 28 of the PDTA repeals a patent, design and trademark law of 1936, and Sec. 26 treats designs registered under it as registered under the new Act.
The current Act was authenticated and published on 30 August 1965. Its first amendment came on 18 October 1987 and its second on 24 November 2006.
The Justice Administration Act 2048 (1991) later changed the forum for appeals, and WIPO Lex lists the consolidated text as amended up to 25 February 2016. Always read that consolidated text, not the 1965 original.
What does the PDTA 1965 say about designs today?
Chapter 3 of the Act deals with designs. Under Sec. 12, title comes "upon registration", and no one may copy or use a registered design without a transfer or written permission. Sec. 13 asks for an application with four copies of the design, its maps and drawings.
Under Sec. 14, the DoI registers the design and issues a registration certificate. It must refuse a design that harms someone's prestige, public morality or the national interest, or one already registered to another person. It may also cancel a registration on those grounds, after giving the holder a chance to respond.
Because an earlier registration blocks a later one, the first-to-file principle generally applies. Sec. 15 backs the right with a fine and confiscation of the goods, on the DoI's order. You can read the full text through the Nepal Law Commission.
How long does a design stay protected in Nepal?
Sec. 14A gives five years from the date of registration. Sec. 23B makes the right renewable within 35 days after the term expires, or within a further six months on a fine; after that it is cancelled automatically.
Sec. 23B(3) caps a design at two renewals of five years each, so plan the product's life around a 15-year end date. Our guide to industrial design renewal in Nepal covers the dates step by step.
Where are designs published, and who can object?
Sec. 21A(1) tells the Department to publish registered designs, with their renewals and cancellations, for public information. Sec. 21A(2) gives anyone 35 days from that publication to file a complaint, which the DoI then inquires into.
The DoI prints them in a separate design section of the Industrial Property Bulletin, as in the 8 July 2026 issue. Our index covers only its trademark entries. See our Bulletin explainer for what that publication covers.
So ask the DoI where design notices appear. The Department of Industry's website lists its current notices and forms; check them before you file.
Our advocate's filing notes list an examination for novelty and originality, then publication and the 35-day objection, before registration. The Act's wording instead publishes designs once registered, so confirm the order for your application with the DoI or your agent.
How many designs has Nepal recorded?
Very few. Nepal's Economic Survey 2082/83, using Department of Industry data, reports 320 designs up to Falgun 2082 (mid-March 2026): 129 domestic and 191 foreign. The same table counts 90 patents and 70,970 trademarks.
Foreign owners account for most of them, 191 of 320. For a broader comparison of the rights, read trademark, copyright, patent and design in Nepal.
Which right protects which part of a product?
A product usually carries more than one right. Nepal handles patents, designs and trademarks under one Act at one office, with a separate register for each under Sec. 22.
A new mechanism inside the product is a patent question; see our patent registration service and design versus patent in Nepal. The brand name is a trademark, filed by NICE classification class; the NICE class finder suggests likely classes. Designs use Locarno instead.
Before naming a product, search the 71,500+ published trademarks in our database. For packaging, see our guide to protecting packaging design.
How do you file a design in Nepal today?
A national filing at the DoI is the only route: under Sec. 21B, a foreign design has no validity in Nepal until it is registered here.
- Separate the look from the rest. Split design from function and brand.
- Prepare the drawings. Make four copies showing the plan, elevation and side views of the article.
- Gather the papers. Our advocate lists a notarised power of attorney signed and sealed by the applicant and attested by two witnesses, plus a notarised originality claim.
- Add foreign documents if needed. A priority claim needs a certified English copy of the earlier filing; a foreign owner may add its home registration certificate.
- File before you launch. Submit at the DoI before public display or sale where you can.
- Answer DoI queries. Reply in time and track the 35-day objection period.
- Diary the renewals. Record each five-year expiry when the certificate arrives.
Our industrial design registration service handles each step, and how to register an industrial design in Nepal covers the process in more depth.
Common mistakes: what puts a product design at risk?
- Launching first. Showing the product publicly before filing invites an earlier filer or a novelty challenge.
- Relying on a foreign or Hague right. Neither covers Nepal under Sec. 21B.
- Using marketing photos as drawings. They often hide angles, and the drawings set what is claimed.
- Forgetting the 15-year end. A design cannot be renewed a third time.
- Mixing up rights. A logo is a trademark and a mechanism is a patent question.
Here is an illustration, not a real case. "Himal Form", a Pokhara maker of spice grinders, shows its faceted new grinder at a trade fair before filing. A rival files a near-identical shape first. Sec. 14 bars a design already registered to someone else, so Himal Form faces a dispute instead of a certificate. Filing a week before the fair would have avoided it.
In short
Two hundred years of design law point one way: protection is national, time-limited and starts with a filing. In Nepal, the PDTA 1965 gives five years from registration, renewable twice, through a direct filing at the DoI. For what a registered design lets you stop, see design rights in Nepal explained.
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Ready to protect a product's look? Start with our industrial design team, or contact IP Sewa to talk through your drawings and dates.
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