The Patent Application Process in Nepal (2026)

Nepal's patent application process starts with a national filing at the Department of Industry. The application identifies the inventor and title chain, explains the invention, and includes technical particulars and drawings. The Department then investigates whether it is new and useful before registration, certificate and Nepal Gazette publication.

Key takeaways

• Sec. 4 governs the application and its technical particulars.
• Sec. 5 asks whether the invention is new and useful to the general public.
• The Act does not state a separate inventive-step test or define prior art.
• Sec. 7 provides registration and the certificate.
• Patents publish in the Nepal Gazette under Sec. 7A, not the Industrial Property Bulletin.
• The 35-day objection period runs from seeing or copying the patent file.
• A patent lasts seven years and may be renewed twice.
• Nepal is outside the Patent Cooperation Treaty, so there is no PCT national phase.

Which law and office control the application?

The Department of Industry administers patent registration under the Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act 1965. Use the Department website for current forms and administrative notices, and the Nepal Law Commission for consolidated legislation.

The Act is short and uses older drafting. It does not provide a detailed modern patent-prosecution code or an official processing deadline. Use the broader patent-protection guide for the right after registration, and confirm any extra counter practice with the Department.

What qualifies as a patent application?

Sec. 4 requires a person wishing to obtain title to a patent to apply to the Department. The application states the inventor's name, address and occupation. If the applicant is not the inventor, it must explain how title was acquired.

The technical portion describes the method of manufacturing, operating or using the invention. If it rests on a theory or formula, that must be stated. Maps and drawings containing all particulars accompany the application with the prescribed filing material.

Practitioner guidance also calls for a specification and claims. Use claims to express the intended technical boundary, but do not misdescribe those modern drafting terms as a detailed claim system written into the Act itself.

How should you prepare before filing?

1. Define the invention. Separate the technical contribution from the product name and business pitch.
2. Control disclosure. The Act provides no general grace period, so seek advice before public demonstrations or sales.
3. Identify the inventor. Record each human contributor and what that person created.
4. Settle ownership. Document how title passes to the applicant where the inventor will not file personally.
5. Research earlier technology. Compare patents, papers, products and public demonstrations relevant to newness.
6. Draft the technical set. Align the description, claims, formulas, maps and drawings.
7. Prepare authority records. Complete any representative appointment and foreign supporting documents.
8. Review one final bundle. Confirm names, labels, page references and dates before submission.

Do not race to the counter with an incomplete disclosure merely to obtain a date. Nepal is often described as first-to-file, but the Act does not use that label as a complete rule. Filing order and the Sec. 5 newness investigation are separate questions; balance speed with a technically coherent record.

What documents should be prepared?

Prepare the prescribed application, inventor and applicant details, the title chain where they differ, the technical specification and claims, and the maps or drawings needed to explain the invention. Keep every name and date consistent across the set.

Foreign applicants ordinarily use a notarised power of attorney for a Nepal representative. Where a foreign patent filing or registration is relied on, practitioner guidance calls for certified or notarised supporting records. Confirm the current document and translation requirements before dispatch.

How should the technical disclosure be drafted?

Explain the invention so the Department can understand what is made, how it operates and how it is used. Drawings should match the written description and carry consistent reference labels. Avoid leaving the essential mechanism only in a marketing deck or prototype demonstration.

A claim should be supported by the disclosure rather than reaching beyond it. Before filing, compare the draft with earlier technical material from patents, papers, products and demonstrations. That research informs drafting, but Nepal's Act does not define “prior art” or a general disclosure grace period.

Do not use IP Sewa's trademark database as a patent search. Nepal has no equivalent public patent index there. WIPO's PATENTSCOPE can help find international material, but a foreign database cannot confirm the status or scope of every Nepal patent.

What does the Department investigate?

Sec. 5 directs the Department to ascertain whether the application concerns a new invention and whether it is useful to the general public. Sec. 5(2) permits expert advice for that investigation.

The Act contains no separate “inventive step” wording and does not define obviousness, prior art or novelty. International search practice may use those concepts, but they should not be presented as extra tests stated in Sec. 5. Compare the terminology with patents and utility models without assuming Nepal has a separate utility-model registration route.

Can the Department refuse the application?

Yes. Sec. 6 prevents registration in specified circumstances, including where the applicant did not invent or acquire title, the patent is already registered in another's name, or the invention is harmful to public health, conduct, morality or national interest. The Department may also cancel a registration on those grounds after giving the holder a reasonable opportunity to show cause.

Entitlement is therefore not a clerical detail. A company should document how it acquired the invention from an employee, founder or contractor before naming itself as applicant. Technical merit does not cure a broken title chain.

When is the patent registered?

If the Department is satisfied after investigation, Sec. 7 provides for registration and a certificate in the prescribed form. The Act's own sequence places registration before publication under Sec. 7A.

Practitioner accounts sometimes describe acceptance, publication, objection and then certificate delivery. That administrative account does not read the same as the bare statutory order. Ask the Department or a Nepal patent advocate how the current file will move, and use the IP glossary when statutory terms are unfamiliar.

Where is a Nepal patent published?

In the Nepal Gazette. Sec. 7A(1) says registered patents are published there for public information, except patents that must be kept secret in the national interest. Patents are not published in the trademark Industrial Property Bulletin.

Sec. 7A(2) allows a person to see or copy the particulars, maps or drawings after paying the prescribed access charge. The notice and the inspectable technical file are therefore different layers of public access.

How does the objection period work?

Sec. 7A(3) gives a person an objection period of 35 days from the date they see or copy the patent under subsection (2). It does not say the clock runs from Gazette publication. Sec. 7A(4) then requires the Department to investigate and act on the complaint.

This is unlike the commonly discussed trademark opposition window. Do not import the trademark's 90-day Bulletin practice into a patent file, and do not reduce the patent rule to “35 days after publication.”

How long does the process take?

The Act sets no Department deadline for completing patent examination or registration. Timing depends on the technical field, document quality, expert input, Department workload and any objection. A fixed month estimate would be a promise the statute and official material do not support.

Applicants can control preparation and response time, not the Department's queue. File a complete, internally consistent set, keep the representative's contact details current and respond promptly to official questions.

How long does a Nepal patent last?

Sec. 8 gives a seven-year renewal term from registration. Sec. 23B allows renewal not more than twice, so the statutory ceiling is 21 years if each renewal is completed.

Calendar registration and renewal dates from the certificate rather than an assumed filing anniversary. The patent-renewal guide explains the two-term ceiling. After registration, Sec. 10 also requires the patentee to submit to the National Archive a copy of the design or model of the article manufactured under the patent.

Can a PCT application cover Nepal?

No. Nepal is absent from WIPO's current list of PCT contracting states. A PCT application cannot enter a Nepal national phase, and Nepal has no PCT receiving office.

Foreign filing or patent records can still inform the national application, but they do not create a Nepal right. Plan Nepal as a direct national filing and seek advice before any overseas priority deadline or public disclosure.

What does a practical filing look like?

Imagine a Lalitpur engineering company developing a low-energy grain dryer. This is an illustration, not a real case. The engineer is named as inventor, while a signed assignment explains how the company acquired title.

The technical set explains airflow, heat control and operating method, with drawings that use the same component labels as the text. The team also separates the machine's technical function from its appearance by reading the industrial-design and patent comparison, then files nationally and preserves the submitted version.

Common mistakes

• Calling inventive step a test stated in Sec. 5.
• Filing without a clear inventor-to-applicant title chain.
• Leaving the operating method only in drawings or a pitch deck.
• Searching trademarks when the question concerns patents.
• Assuming a PCT application automatically covers Nepal.
• Saying patents publish in the Industrial Property Bulletin.
• Counting 35 days from Gazette publication instead of inspection.
• Promising an official completion timeline that does not exist.
• Forgetting the National Archive deposit under Sec. 10.
• Missing one of the two permitted renewals.

After registration, unauthorised commercial use raises a different set of proof and remedy questions. The patent-infringement guide covers that stage; it should not be confused with the application investigation.

In short

Prepare the Sec. 4 application carefully, document title, explain the invention and align the drawings. The Department then applies Sec. 5's new-and-useful test. Registration, Gazette publication, inspection, objection, archive deposit and renewal each have separate statutory roles.

If the asset might instead be a brand, creative work or product appearance, use the trademark, copyright, patent and design comparison before committing to the patent route.

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For a direct Nepal application and specification review, use the patent registration service or contact IP Sewa with the invention, inventor and ownership background.