Yes. Software is protected by copyright in Nepal from the moment it is written, and registering it is voluntary. The Copyright Act 2059 (2002) lists a computer program as a protected work. Registration with the Nepal Copyright Registrar's Office adds a dated official record. It is not filed with the Department of Industry.
Key takeaways
- The Act names "computer program" as a work (Sec. 2(a)); no registration is needed (Sec. 5(1)).
- Copyright protects the code, not the idea, feature or method behind it (Sec. 4).
- The author is the first owner (Sec. 6(1)); a company needs a signed written assignment (Sec. 24(1)).
- Only 86 software works had been registered by mid-2026, out of 3,427 works in total.
- A case for copying must be filed within three months of learning of it (Sec. 38).
- The app's name and logo are trademarks, filed at the Department of Industry.
Is software protected by copyright in Nepal?
Yes. Sec. 2(a) of the Copyright Act defines a "work" as any original intellectual creation in literature, art, science or any other field, and item (10) of that list reads simply "Computer program". Sec. 3(1) extends copyright protection to any work.
Sec. 5(1) says registration "shall not be required to acquire the right", as the consolidated English text on WIPO Lex shows. Your code is protected as soon as it is written.
The author is the person who creates the work (Sec. 2(b)): for software, the developers who wrote the code. Our guide to copyright registration in Nepal covers the general rules; this page deals with what is different about code.
What rights does the owner of a program hold?
Sec. 7 gives the author or copyright owner the exclusive right to reproduce, translate, revise or adapt a work. For software, that covers copying, porting and modifying the code.
The owner also controls selling, distributing, renting and importing copies (Sec. 7(e) and 7(g)), and Sec. 7(f) names the computer program among works whose rights the owner may transfer or rent.
One exception is written for software. Under Sec. 21, a lawful user may make one copy without permission for record-keeping, or where the legal copy is lost, destroyed or unusable. It is a backup right, not a licence to share.
Moral rights sit beside these: being named as author and objecting to harmful distortion (Sec. 8(1)). They cannot be transferred during the author's lifetime (Sec. 8(2)).
What does software copyright not protect?
Sec. 4 excludes any thought, method of operation, concept, principle and general data, even where they are expressed in a work. A feature, a workflow or an algorithm treated as an abstract procedure falls on that side of the line.
So two apps that do the same job do not infringe each other just because they work alike. Identical code, matching unusual structure, copied comments or the same bugs can point to copying, but each case turns on its facts.
Data is a special case. Sec. 3(2) protects a database "readable with or without support of machine" as an original work when its selection or arrangement is original. The facts inside it stay free.
Can software be patented in Nepal instead?
Possibly, but it is a different right at a different office. The Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act 1965, published by the Nepal Law Commission, defines a patent as a useful invention relating to a new process of manufacture, operation or transmission, or one based on a new theory or formula (Sec. 2(a)). It never mentions software or computers.
Under Sec. 5, the Department of Industry examines whether an invention is new and useful, so whether a software-based invention qualifies is its call. A registered patent is published in the Nepal Gazette (Sec. 7A(1)) and lasts seven years from registration, renewable twice (Sec. 8).
Our patent registration service can assess a technical idea, and our comparison of trademark, copyright, patent and design sets the four rights side by side.
Who owns code written by employees or contractors?
The starting rule is Sec. 6(1): the author is the first owner of the economic rights. Sec. 6(2) lists specific exceptions, such as joint works, but contains no general employment rule. Do not assume a salary or a paid invoice moves ownership.
The safe route is a signed written assignment. Sec. 24 lets the owner transfer all or any economic rights "by making a written agreement", which should name the code, the rights and every person transferring them.
The Registrar asks for this too. Its July 2026 notice says that where anyone other than the applicant took part in creating a work, their consent letter is mandatory: founders, former staff and outside agencies. Our page on who owns your startup's source code goes deeper.
Why register software if protection is automatic?
A certificate is an official, dated record to show investors, licensees, buyers or a court. Its format, in Schedule 2 of the Copyright Rules 2004, records the author or owner, the work's name, its completion date and its first publication.
Know its limits. The Act does not make the certificate conclusive proof, and the Registrar does not test whether code is new, secure or patentable. There is no opposition stage and no public per-work search like IP Sewa's Nepal trademark database.
How many software works are registered in Nepal?
Very few. The Registrar's Office published a notice on 21 July 2026 counting 3,427 works registered in total by the end of fiscal year 2082/83. Computer software accounted for 86 of them, including 10 registered during that year.
That is about one registration in forty. Most Nepali code is protected but never registered, so its owners rely on repositories, contracts and release records. Our copyright statistics for Nepal page covers the wider figures.
Which version should you register, and how much code?
Choose a stable, commercially meaningful release, archive it, and record its release or commit identifier. "Accounting platform, version 2.4, server and web-client code fixed on [date]" is far more useful than "all software owned by the company."
Confirm the current specimen format with the Registrar's Office first. Then build a clean filing copy without passwords, API keys, signing certificates, access tokens, customer records or personal data.
Keep a hash of the submitted copy and the full archive so the two can be tied together later. A major rewrite may justify a fresh filing; routine bug fixes do not.
What documents should a software applicant prepare?
| Record | What it should establish | Check before filing |
|---|---|---|
| Applicant details | Legal name, address and authority to sign | Matches the company's registration papers |
| Version record | The exact program being registered | Title, release, commit and date agree |
| Contributor list | Who created each original part | Founders and former developers included |
| Assignments and consents | Why the applicant owns the economic rights | Signed, written, naming this code |
| Component list | What belongs to third parties | Licences and notices kept |
| Filing copy | The work presented to the office | No credentials or personal data |
| Agent authority | Who may file for the applicant | Needed only if a representative files |
The Schedule 1 form asks for the applicant's name, address and citizenship, the work's name, language and completion date, its first publication, and the documents proving ownership. The office's current Nepali form adds a signed declaration that the work is the applicant's own original creation. Confirm the latest checklist before filing.
How does software copyright registration work, step by step?
- Freeze the version. Record the release, commit and date.
- Map the contributors. Name every author and what each supplied.
- Collect the paperwork. Gather assignments, consent letters and licences.
- Prepare a safe copy. Follow the office's format without exposing secrets.
- Apply to the Registrar. File the Schedule 1 form with your ownership evidence.
- Answer any query. Keep the submission and the certificate together.
Under Rule 3 of the Copyright Rules 2004, the Registrar examines the application and may ask for more documents. An accepted work is registered within 35 days of the application, or of the extra documents where they were requested (Rule 3(3)).
A refusal must state its reasons within seven days (Rule 3(4)), and Sec. 31 allows an appeal to the appellate court within thirty-five days. Our copyright registration process guide walks through the office procedure.
How long does software copyright last?
Sec. 14 sets the term. Under Sec. 14(1), the economic and moral rights last for the author's life and fifty years from the year of death. A joint work runs fifty years from the death of the last surviving author (Sec. 14(2)).
A work published anonymously or under a pseudonym runs fifty years from first publication (Sec. 14(4)). Sec. 41 counts these years from the Bikram Sambat new year. There is no renewal filing, and registration neither starts nor extends the term. See how long copyright lasts in Nepal for every category.
How do open-source components affect a filing?
Most programs contain dependencies the applicant did not write. Open source does not mean "no copyright": the holder grants permissions under a licence, some of which require notices or compatible terms. Keep a component list with each licence, and never present third-party code as your own.
What can you do if someone copies your code?
Sec. 25 lists infringing acts, including distributing copies without authorisation or beyond a licence's terms, and making or importing devices built to get round copy protection (Sec. 25(1)(e)). Sec. 27 provides a fine, imprisonment of up to six months, or both, with heavier penalties for repeats, plus seizure and compensation.
The police may seize infringing copies on a complaint (Sec. 32), and a customs officer may hold suspected imports for up to twenty working days (Sec. 34). Cases go to the District Court (Sec. 35), which may order the activity to stop (Sec. 36).
Act quickly: Sec. 38 requires a case within three months of learning of the infringement. Preserve URLs, dates and builds unedited, then take legal advice. Our guide to copyright infringement law in Nepal covers the remedies.
How do you protect the app's name and logo?
Copyright does not protect a product name. A name or logo is a trademark, registered with the Department of Industry (DoI), where the first-to-file principle generally applies. Each NICE classification class needs its own application: apps usually raise Class 9 questions, and hosted software or development services Class 42.
Accepted marks are published in the Industrial Property Bulletin, followed by a 90-day opposition window. A registered mark lasts seven years from registration and is renewable any number of times.
IP Sewa's trademark search covers 71,500+ marks published in 123 bulletins; 3,566 of those entries are in Class 9 and 1,358 in Class 42 (published entries, not registrations). Try the NICE class finder, read how to legally name a software or app brand, and let our trademark registration service file it.
Common mistakes
- Calling the company the author without naming the developers.
- Relying on an invoice instead of a signed written assignment.
- Filing an unidentified code dump rather than a fixed version.
- Leaving credentials or customer data in the filing copy.
- Claiming open-source dependencies as original code.
- Waiting months after spotting a copy, when Sec. 38 allows three.
- Assuming copyright protects the app's name.
What does a careful startup filing look like?
This is an illustration, not a real case. A Kathmandu SaaS company prepares version 3.0 for an investment round. Two founders wrote the first version, an agency rebuilt the mobile client, and employees wrote the server.
The company signs written assignments with the founders, the agency and its staff. It lists third-party packages, freezes the release, removes secrets from the filing copy and hashes both the archive and the submission.
It files that version with consent letters from every contributor, then files its product name in Class 9 and Class 42. No filing rules out a dispute, but the evidence trail is clean.
In short
Software copyright in Nepal arises automatically for original code, and registration is a voluntary evidence step. A strong filing identifies one build, every contributor, a signed ownership chain and all third-party components. Protect the app's name separately as a trademark at the Department of Industry.
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IP Sewa does not register copyright, but we protect the name and logo your software trades under. Contact our team to get started.
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