The Oldest Registered Trademarks in History

The oldest trademark in the world, as most people mean it, is the Bass red triangle: UK trade mark No. 1, entered when Britain's register opened on 1 January 1876 and, its office says, still live. Marks on pots and seals are far older, and Spain and France opened registers first.

Key takeaways

• "Oldest trademark" can mean the oldest maker's mark, the oldest brand or the oldest registered mark. Only the last is a legal record.
• The UK Intellectual Property Office calls the Bass triangle trade mark No. 1 and says Bass's first two marks remain live.
• In the United States, a USPTO study named the SAMSON rope logo of 1884 its oldest live registration.
• WIPO names the Longines winged hourglass the oldest logo still in use in its original form on its international register.
• Nepal had a trademark law in 1936, and Sec. 26 of the 1965 Act carried those registrations over.
• The lowest application number in IP Sewa's bulletin archive is 21,261, filed in December 2003 and published in 2009.
• Every old mark on this page survived the same way: registered early, kept in use and renewed.

What is the oldest trademark in the world?

It depends which question you are asking. Potters, smiths and guilds marked goods for centuries to show who made them, but no office recorded those marks. Old brands are a second question, because a business can trade for centuries before it registers anything.

The third question has a clean answer. The oldest registered trademark usually named is Bass & Co's red triangle for pale ale. The UK Intellectual Property Office pictures it as UK00000000001 and says Bass secured marks 1, 2 and 3 when the register opened.

The story that a Bass clerk queued all night is, in the office's words, a legend. The registration itself is documented.

Was Bass really the first registered trademark anywhere?

No, and the difference matters. In a history of trademarks published by WIPO, Spain introduced a national registry in 1850, France followed in 1857, the United States in 1870 and England in 1875.

Bass is first on the British register, created by the Trade Marks Registration Act 1875, which came into force at midnight on 31 December 1875. It is the usual answer because it is numbered first, it is well documented and, the UK office says, it is still live.

The Bass story itself, and why a simple shape made such a strong mark, is in our post on the Bass red triangle of 1876.

What was the first trademark registered in the United States?

The United States passed its first federal trademark law in 1870. According to the USPTO, the Supreme Court struck it down in 1879, and Congress replaced it with the Trademark Act of 1881. The USPTO's case-file data begins with registrations dated October 1870.

The oldest live US registration is easier to name. A 2013 USPTO study of its case files reported that the oldest live registration was issued in 1884 for a SAMSON logo, U.S. Reg. No. 11,210, for cords, lines and rope.

That finding rests on data to January 2012; we could not check the record's status today.

Which is the oldest mark on the international register?

The Madrid Agreement of 1891 created an international register that WIPO now runs. In WIPO's history of the system, Longines began using its winged hourglass in 1867, registered it in Switzerland in 1889 and filed it internationally in 1893.

WIPO describes it as the oldest trademark or logo still in use in its original form registered with WIPO. Nepal, however, is not a member of the Madrid System, so no international registration, old or new, reaches Nepal.

Did Nepal register trademarks before 1965?

Yes. Sec. 28 of the Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act 1965 repeals "The Patent, Design and Trademark law of 1936", so Nepal had a registration law about thirty years before the present Act. Sec. 26 deems marks registered under that law to be registered under the new one.

Much of today's system is younger still. The 1987 first amendment added the classification power of Sec. 18A, publication, the seven-year term and the renewal procedure. Before it, a registered mark in Nepal had no statutory term at all.

What are the oldest entries in Nepal's published Bulletins?

We extract every entry from the Department of Industry's Industrial Property Bulletin. On 16 October 2026 our archive held 123 issues and 71,842 published entries, from Volume 1, Number 1 (22 January 2006) to Volume 20, Number 8 (16 October 2026).

These are IP Sewa counts of published entries, not official DoI statistics. A published mark is not necessarily registered, and dates come from the Bulletin as printed, converted from Bikram Sambat.

To see any of these entries yourself, enter its number in the application-number lookup.

Why is the oldest Bulletin entry not Nepal's oldest registration?

Because the Bulletin series we hold starts in 2006, while registrations go back to the 1936 law. The lowest application number we see is 21,261; if the DoI numbered from one, some twenty thousand earlier applications sit outside our data.

Older marks may still be on the register if renewed; only the DoI can confirm that. Our guide to the trademark register of Nepal explains what the register records.

How has the Bulletin changed since 2006?

It has grown more than five times over. The nine issues of 2006 carried 1,162 entries, 57% with a Nepali address. The eight issues of 2025 carried 6,479, and 65% had a Nepali address.

Japanese owners had 74 of the first issue's 153 entries and Nepali owners 58, across eight countries. Across the whole archive, about 60% have a Nepali address, and 100 countries appear.

What do the oldest registered marks teach a Nepali brand owner?

First, a register rewards whoever files. Under Sec. 16, title to a trademark in Nepal is acquired on registration, so the first-to-file principle generally applies. Bass filed the moment the register opened.

Second, pictures last. Bass's label is built on a red triangle, SAMSON and Longines are logos, and 33 of the 153 entries in Nepal's first Bulletin are named as device marks, starting with entry 1. A logo can outlive a change of language or packaging. Our guide on registering a logo in Nepal covers how to file one.

Third, age comes from upkeep. A mark from 1876 is live today because its owners kept it on the register through more than 30 changes to UK law, the UK office notes.

Does an old foreign registration protect a brand in Nepal?

No. Sec. 21B says a trademark registered in a foreign country is not valid in Nepal unless it is registered here. A mark that is a century old abroad starts at zero in Nepal.

The Paris Convention, concluded in 1883 and in force for Nepal since 2001, gives a six-month priority period for marks.

Sec. 21C lets the DoI register a mark registered abroad without enquiries when the foreign certificate is enclosed. A foreign owner files through a Nepali agent under a power of attorney.

How do you register a mark in Nepal so it can last?

The route is the same as in 1876: search, file, survive objection, keep the record alive.

1. Search first. Check names, sound-alikes and logos in the free published trademark search, which shows published marks, not registration status.
2. Pick the classes. List what you sell now and soon; each class needs its own application.
3. Prepare the papers. The application, four specimens of the mark and, where an agent files, a power of attorney. An established business adds its latest tax clearance; a newly formed company will not have one yet, so confirm the DoI's current checklist.
4. File at the Department of Industry and keep the acknowledgement, since the filing date is what first-to-file turns on.
5. Answer examination. The DoI may raise a conflict or ask for clarification before it decides.
6. Watch the opposition window. An accepted mark is published in the Bulletin, and anyone may oppose it within 90 days of publication; rely on the deadline the DoI states.
7. Collect the registration certificate and diarise the renewal date for every class.

An unopposed application typically takes about 12–14 months from filing to certificate, and 6–8 months only in the smoothest cases. Our trademark registration service runs every step.

Which NICE classes would a heritage-style brand need?

The NICE classification sorts goods and services into 45 classes: 1–34 for goods and 35–45 for services. Sec. 18A(2) requires a separate application for each class you need.

Imagine "Old Bazaar Chiya", a Kathmandu business selling packaged tea, running a tea room and promoting itself online. Tea sits in Class 30, the tea room in Class 43, and retail or advertising services in Class 35.

Our guide to NICE classification explains the system, and the NICE class finder suggests likely classes.

How long does a Nepali registration last?

Sec. 18D sets seven years from the date of registration, not filing. Sec. 23B makes a trademark renewable any number of times, seven years at a time, so a Nepali mark can last as long as Bass's.

Renew within 35 days after expiry; a six-month late window follows on a fine, and after that the registration is cancelled.

The renewal calculator works out the dates, and our trademark renewal team tracks every class.

Common mistakes with old and historic brands

• Treating age as ownership. Years of use do not beat an earlier valid filing under Sec. 16.
• Relying on a company name. Registration with the Office of the Company Registrar (OCR) creates no trademark right.
• Assuming a foreign mark covers Nepal. Sec. 21B says it does not, and Madrid does not reach here.
• Using ® too early. Sec. 18B bars presenting a mark as registered before it is, and Sec. 19 adds a fine and confiscation.
• Calling a Bulletin mark registered. A published mark still faces the 90-day opposition period.
• Leaving the mark unused. Sec. 18C lets the DoI cancel a mark not used within a year of registration.
• Letting renewal slip. A lapsed old mark is lost, however famous it was.

What happens when a family brand relies on its age?

Here is an illustration, not a real case. A Bhaktapur sweet shop has sold as "Purano Pasal" since the 1990s but never filed. A new company files the same name for confectionery in Class 30.

The shop's long use is evidence in a dispute, but the newcomer holds the application. The shop's best moment to act is within 90 days of the newcomer's publication, through an opposition.

Filing first, as Bass did, would have avoided the fight.

In short: what is the oldest trademark?

The Bass red triangle, UK No. 1 of 1876, is the usual answer, with SAMSON and Longines named as the oldest on the US and international registers. In Nepal, the lowest-numbered application in our Bulletin archive was filed in 2003, one entry prints a 1994 filing date, and registrations themselves go back to 1936.

Each of those marks lasted because someone filed early and renewed on time. Check your name before you build on it; our guide on checking whether a trademark is registered shows how, and our trademark search and clearance team can give a written view.

People also search for

• The first registered trademark: Bass and the red triangle
• The trademark register of Nepal, explained
• What is a trademark in Nepal?
• Trademark or company name: what is the difference?

Want your brand to be the one still on the register in a hundred years? Contact IP Sewa and we will check what the published record shows before you file.