The TRIPS Agreement Explained: How the WTO Globalised IP

The TRIPS Agreement is the WTO treaty that sets minimum intellectual property standards every member must meet. It has applied since 1 January 1995, and Nepal took on its duties when it joined the WTO on 23 April 2004. It does not register anything: a brand is still protected in Nepal only by filing at the Department of Industry.

Key takeaways

• TRIPS stands for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. It is Annex 1C of the agreement that created the WTO.
• It covers seven kinds of IP: copyright, trademarks, geographical indications, industrial designs, patents, integrated-circuit layouts and trade secrets.
• It works on governments, not on applications. There is no TRIPS registration and no worldwide trademark.
• As a least-developed country (LDC), Nepal has extra time to comply: until 1 July 2034, or earlier if it leaves the LDC group.
• Nepal’s rights still come from the Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act 1965, run by the Department of Industry (DoI).
• Nepal’s trademark term matches the TRIPS floor. Its patent and design terms are shorter than the TRIPS minimum.

What is the TRIPS Agreement?

TRIPS is a set of minimum rules for intellectual property that every WTO member signs up to. It says what must be protectable, for how long at least, and what enforcement tools a country must offer.

Each country then writes and runs its own law. There is no TRIPS office, no TRIPS certificate and no TRIPS number.

Why was TRIPS created?

Before TRIPS, the main treaties were the Paris Convention (industrial property, from 1883) and the Berne Convention (copyright). They set useful principles, but countries protected very different things, for very different periods, and enforcement was often weak.

During the Uruguay Round of trade talks, from 1986 to 1994, the major trading economies pushed to bring IP inside the new trade system. The result was TRIPS. It kept the Paris and Berne rules and added a floor that members must meet.

Who runs TRIPS, the WTO or WIPO?

The WTO. TRIPS is one of its core agreements, so a member cannot take the trade rules and skip the IP rules. If a member falls short, another member can bring a case through WTO dispute settlement. That trade link is what made TRIPS different from the older treaties.

WIPO, the UN agency for IP, still runs the Paris and Berne Conventions and the international classification systems, including the NICE Classification Nepal uses for trademarks. Nepal joined WIPO in 1997 and the Paris Convention in 2001.

Which rights does TRIPS cover?

TRIPS covers seven categories, plus general rules on enforcement, national treatment and most-favoured-nation treatment. The table shows each one and where Nepal stands under its own law.

What does TRIPS say about geographical indications?

TRIPS defines a geographical indication as a sign showing that goods come from a place whose quality, reputation or other features are essentially due to that origin. Members must give interested parties a legal way to stop misleading use.

Nepal’s 1965 Act does not set up a separate register for them. That is why questions about Ilam tea or pashmina need careful advice rather than a standard filing.

How do TRIPS minimum terms compare with Nepal’s?

For trademarks, Nepal meets the floor exactly: seven years from registration, renewable in seven-year terms as often as the owner likes. Renewal is filed within 35 days of expiry (Sec. 23B), and our trademark renewal service tracks those dates.

For patents and designs, the Act’s terms are shorter than the TRIPS minimum. A Nepali patent lasts seven years from registration and can be renewed twice. A design lasts five years and can be renewed twice.

How far Nepal must close that gap, and when, is a legal policy question, and the LDC period below is part of the answer. If a term matters for an invention or a product shape, ask a lawyer, or talk to our patent registration and industrial design teams.

How does WTO intellectual property work in practice?

Three rules do most of the work. National treatment means a member must treat foreign right holders no worse than its own nationals. Most-favoured-nation treatment means an advantage given to one member’s nationals goes to all members’ nationals. Minimum standards mean each member’s law must reach the TRIPS floor.

None of this touches your individual application. The Department of Industry still examines your mark, publishes it and decides whether to register it.

What does TRIPS require on enforcement?

TRIPS asks members to give right holders workable procedures against infringement, not just rights on paper. In Nepal, the DoI itself hears infringement and opposition cases as a quasi-judicial body, and its decisions can be appealed to the High Court within 35 days.

The Act also lets the DoI order an infringer to pay compensation for actual loss (Sec. 25). Police, customs and District Administration Offices can assist under the Trademark Directives.

What does the TRIPS Agreement mean for Nepal?

Nepal became a WTO member on 23 April 2004, and WIPO’s profile of Nepal lists TRIPS among the treaties Nepal is party to.

As a least-developed country, Nepal benefits from the TRIPS transition period for LDCs. The WTO says it runs until 1 July 2034, or until a country stops being least-developed, if that is earlier. A separate period for pharmaceutical patents runs until 1 January 2033. Nepal is on course to leave the LDC group, so check the WTO’s current position rather than assuming 2034.

Have Nepal’s courts relied on TRIPS?

Yes. In Sumi Distillery v. Guinness United Distillers & Vintners (Supreme Court, Decision No. 8577), a dispute about GORDON’S and CORDON in Class 33, the court called IP protection a public duty of the state. It pointed to Nepal’s obligations under the Paris Convention and TRIPS.

Does TRIPS protect a foreign brand in Nepal automatically?

No. Nepal is not part of the Madrid System for trademarks, the PCT for patents or the Hague System for designs. The Act says a right registered abroad is not valid in Nepal until it is registered here (Sec. 21B).

A Paris Convention priority claim may be available for a recent foreign filing. A foreign owner files through a Nepal-based agent with a notarised power of attorney.

How do you protect a brand in Nepal under this system?

You use the national route at the Department of Industry. Nepal is first-to-file, so the earlier valid application usually wins.

1. Search the register. Our trademark search covers marks published in DoI bulletins, and the conflict checker flags close names.
2. Choose the NICE class. Nepal needs one application per class. The NICE class finder helps you start.
3. File at the DoI. The filing date fixes your place in line.
4. Answer examination. The DoI checks the mark against earlier marks and the grounds for refusal.
5. Watch the bulletin. An accepted mark is published in the Industrial Property Bulletin, and the opposition window is 90 days.
6. Get the certificate and renew. The registration certificate starts a seven-year term; plan renewals with the renewal calculator.

An unopposed trademark usually takes about 12 to 14 months from filing to certificate; six to eight months happens only in the smoothest cases. Our trademark registration service handles each step.

What flexibility does TRIPS leave to countries?

TRIPS sets a minimum, not a maximum, and leaves each member free to choose how to put its rules into national law. Members may adopt measures to protect public health, as long as they stay consistent with the agreement.

So "globalised IP" does not mean the same law everywhere. Nepal’s opposition window, its one-class-per-application rule and its renewal deadlines are national choices, and they are the rules a Nepali filing follows.

What are the common mistakes about TRIPS?

• Treating TRIPS as a registration. There is no TRIPS filing. Protection in Nepal starts with a DoI application.
• Assuming a home registration covers Nepal. Nepal is outside Madrid, PCT and Hague. File here directly.
• Quoting the TRIPS patent term for Nepal. Twenty years is the TRIPS minimum, not the term the 1965 Act gives today.
• Waiting to launch first. Nepal is first-to-file, so someone else’s earlier application can block you.
• Using ® too early. The Act bars presenting a mark as registered before it is registered (Sec. 18B).

What does this look like for a foreign company?

Here is an illustration, not a real case. A software company registers its brand at home and in several Madrid countries. Its team reads that Nepal is a WTO member bound by TRIPS and assumes the brand is safe in Nepal too. A year later a local firm files a similar name in Class 9.

TRIPS does not help here. The company never filed in Nepal, so it has no Nepali registration to rely on. Its best option is an opposition while the local mark is still inside the 90-day window, which our opposition and enforcement team handles. A direct filing at the start would have avoided the fight.

In short, what did TRIPS change?

TRIPS put minimum IP standards inside the WTO. For Nepal it means international duties since 2004, LDC time to comply, and courts that cite it. For a business the practical steps are unchanged: search, file at the DoI, watch the bulletin and renew every seven years. The Act itself is on the Nepal Law Commission site, and filing notices are on the Department of Industry site.

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Planning to protect a brand, invention or design in Nepal? Tell us what you want to protect and our team will explain the national route, the documents and the timing. This article is general information, not legal advice.