A trademark authorization letter is the paper that lets somebody else act for you at the Department of Industry. In Nepali it is an अधिकारनामा, a power of attorney. Sec. 20 of the 1965 Act allows it, and the Department's own form asks for one.
Key takeaways
- The Nepali term on the official form is अधिकारनामा, which is a power of attorney, not a casual letter.
- Sec. 20 says acts done by your attorney are deemed to have been done by you.
- The Department's trademark form asks for it only "if a representative has been nominated".
- The same form asks for four specimens of the mark and the signatures of two witnesses.
- Authority to act is not ownership. A licence and an assignment are different documents entirely.
- Nepal is outside the Madrid System, so a foreign owner files here nationally, usually through a representative.
- We do not draft these. Have a lawyer settle the wording, because the scope is a legal question.
What is a trademark authorization letter in Nepal?
It is a written appointment. One person or company authorises another to take the steps a trademark matter needs, and the Department then deals with that representative instead of the owner.
The authority is administrative. It lets somebody lodge the application, answer an examiner, receive correspondence and collect a certificate on your behalf.
The applicant stays the applicant throughout. Nothing about the appointment moves the brand, the goodwill or the eventual registration certificate into the representative's hands.
What is the authorization letter called in Nepali?
It is called an अधिकारनामा. That is the word printed on the Department of Industry's own trademark application form, in the list of papers the applicant attaches.
The clause reads, in effect, "if a representative has been nominated, an अधिकारनामा". So the document is expected only when somebody other than the applicant is going to act.
The form itself is headed व्यापार चिन्ह (ट्रेडमार्क) दर्ताको निम्ति आवेदन फाराम, which is why both व्यापार चिन्ह and ट्रेडमार्क turn up in Nepali filing language for the same thing.
Does the Act actually allow you to appoint someone?
Yes, and in plain words. Sec. 20 of the Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act 1965 is titled "Right to appoint Attorney" and sits in the Act's miscellaneous chapter.
It says a person may appoint an attorney or legal practitioner to take any action required under the Act. That is the statutory basis, and it covers patents and designs as well as marks.
The second half is the important half. Actions taken by that attorney are deemed to have been taken by the applicant personally, which is exactly why the scope you grant matters.
Where does the Department actually ask for it?
On the trademark application form itself. The attachments clause lists the permit or certificate for the business, the specimens of the mark, and then the अधिकारनामा where a representative has been nominated.
Read that conditionally. An individual who walks into the Department and files their own application has nobody to authorise, so there is nothing to attach.
The moment a lawyer, an agent or an employee signs in your place, the document becomes the thing that makes their signature count. Our walkthrough of the documents required for filing sets out the rest of the bundle.
Who signs it, and who does not?
The applicant signs. For a company that means the person the company's own constitution allows to bind it, not whoever happens to be in the office that day.
The representative does not sign the authority. They may sign everything that follows from it, which is a different thing and the reason the scope has to be written carefully.
Where a company signs, expect to show the internal approval behind the signature as well. A board resolution is the usual proof that the signatory had the power.
Why should you not just copy a sample?
Because the wording decides what your representative can do, and a template drafted for another country grants whatever that country's practice assumed.
A clause that is too narrow means a second document later, usually at the worst moment. A clause that is too wide can hand over powers you never intended to give anybody.
This is a legal document with real consequences, so have a lawyer settle the text for your situation. We are happy to tell you what the Department expects to see; the drafting itself belongs with an advocate. Ask us through contact if you are not sure who to approach.
Is it the same as a licence or an assignment?
No. Those three documents do three unrelated jobs, and mixing them up is the most expensive mistake in this whole area.
An authority lets somebody act for you. A licence lets somebody else use the mark. An assignment transfers ownership outright.
Sec. 21D governs transfer and permitted use, and Sec. 16(2) forbids copying or using a registered mark without either a transfer or written permission. Our guides to licence agreements and assignment agreements cover those two.
What else goes in the bundle with it?
The authority is one attachment among several, and the form lists the others alongside it. Requirements can change, so confirm the current list with the Department before you file.
| Item | Where it comes from | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Completed application form | The Department of Industry | Every field, including the class |
| Four specimens of the mark | Your own artwork | Sec. 17 asks for four, not one. |
| Business permit or certificate | Your registering authority | It must cover these goods or services |
| अधिकारनामा | The applicant, signed | Only where a representative acts |
| Board resolution | The company's own records | Shows the signatory had authority |
| Evidence of earlier use | Your trading records | Only where the mark is already in use |
| Priority or foreign certificate | The foreign office | Certified, and translated if needed |
How many witnesses does the form want?
Two. The application form's signature block asks for the name, surname, address and signature of two witnesses, and it says so in the form itself.
Practice around notarisation of the authority is a separate question, and what a notary or an embassy asks for depends on where the document is signed.
A foreign-signed document usually needs more handling than a locally signed one. Ask your representative what the chain looks like from your country before the signing appointment is booked.
What happens once the document is signed?
It joins the application, and from that point the representative is the Department's contact. The route below is the ordinary one for a mark.
- Clear the name first. Run it through the conflict checker before anybody signs anything.
- Fix the class. Sec. 18A(2) needs one application per category, so count them with the NICE class finder.
- Sign and witness the authority. The applicant signs, with the witnesses the form asks for.
- File the bundle. The representative lodges the application, the specimens and the attachments together.
- Answer examination. The Department may raise distinctiveness, an earlier mark or the goods wording.
- Handle publication. Accepted marks appear in the Industrial Property Bulletin, and practice allows a 90-day opposition period.
- Collect the certificate. The representative can receive it where the authority says so.
When does the authority need refreshing?
Whenever the matter moves outside what it covers. A document written only for filing does not obviously stretch to an opposition or a renewal years later.
It also needs revisiting when the applicant changes. A merger, a name change or a new signatory can all leave the old paper describing somebody who no longer exists.
Diary it alongside the mark itself. A registration runs seven years from registration under Sec. 18D, and the renewal term under Sec. 23B is repeatable for a mark, so the relationship usually outlives the first document.
Renewal itself falls due within 35 days of expiry, with a further six-month window on payment of a fine before the registration is cancelled. Make sure somebody still holds authority when that date arrives.
What if the representative is outside Nepal?
The appointment still works, but the paperwork chain gets longer. A document signed abroad usually needs notarisation where it is signed and then whatever authentication the Department accepts.
Build that time into the plan, especially where a priority deadline is running. Certification and courier time have closed more windows than examination ever has.
Nepali businesses filing outward face the mirror image of the same problem, which our guide to filing in India goes through.
Does the same authority cover a patent or a design?
Sec. 20 is written for the whole Act, so the right to appoint an attorney is not limited to trade marks. The document itself, though, usually is.
Most authorities name one mark, one class and one application. A patent or a design is a different filing and normally needs its own paper, drafted for that right.
The subject matter differs enough to matter: our patent registration and industrial design pages set out what each of those filings involves.
Common mistakes
- Using the trading name. The applicant is the legal person, not the shopfront.
- Naming a firm and nobody in it. Say who inside the firm may act.
- Describing the mark loosely. "Our logo" is not a description; the filed artwork is.
- Copying a foreign template. It grants whatever that country's practice assumed.
- Granting transfer powers by accident. Authority to act is not authority to sell.
- Signing before the application is settled. A changed class makes the paper wrong.
A worked example
This is an illustration, not a real case. A Pokhara trekking company wants its name registered for clothing and, separately, for its tour services.
That is two applications, because Sec. 18A(2) does not allow one filing to cover two categories. One authority can still cover both if it is written to.
The founder signs, two witnesses sign, and the appointed advocate files both. Six months later an objection arrives on the clothing application.
Whether the advocate can answer it without a fresh document depends entirely on a sentence written at the start. That is the whole argument for having it drafted properly.
What does the letter not do?
It does not register anything. The Department still examines the mark, publishes it and decides it, exactly as it would for an applicant standing at the counter.
It does not create rights either. Nepal works on a first-to-file basis, so the date your representative lodges the application is what matters, not the date you signed the authority.
And it does not let you call an unregistered mark registered. Sec. 18B prohibits that, and Sec. 19 backs it with a fine and confiscation of the goods, so leave the claim off the packaging until the certificate exists.
What should you check before you sign?
Three things. That the name on the document is the legal applicant, that the mark and class match the application exactly, and that the powers granted are the ones you meant to grant.
Then check the register. Signing an authority for a mark somebody else already holds is effort spent in the wrong direction.
Search the published record through trademark search, or get a considered view from our clearance service before the meeting with your lawyer.
In short
A trademark authorization letter in Nepal is an अधिकारनामा: a power of attorney that lets a named representative act for you at the Department of Industry.
Sec. 20 permits it, the application form asks for it where a representative is nominated, and the same form wants four specimens and two witnesses.
The Act is published by the Nepal Law Commission, the forms by the Department of Industry, and the wider treaty framework by WIPO. If you want the filing handled end to end, start with trademark registration.
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Tell us who will be signing and what the representative needs to do, and we will tell you what the Department expects to see. Put the question to us through contact, and take the drafting itself to an advocate.
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