Class 16 is the trade mark class for paper, cardboard, printed matter, stationery and paper or plastic packaging. It covers the printed thing. Printing done for someone else is Class 40, and publishing is Class 41.
Key takeaways
- Class 16 is a goods class: the notebook, not the act of making it.
- Printing services sit in Class 40, which names them in its heading.
- Publishing books and texts sits in Class 41, not in Class 16.
- Several paper goods are classified by function instead, including photographic and abrasive paper.
- A Nepali application covers one NICE class, so a printer who also sells stock needs two.
- Our register holds 1,329 published Class 16 entries from 856 distinct applicants.
- A registration runs seven years and the renewal term can be repeated indefinitely.
What does Class 16 actually cover?
The current heading reads: paper and cardboard; printed matter; bookbinding material; photographs; stationery and office requisites, except furniture; adhesives for stationery or household purposes; drawing materials and materials for artists; paintbrushes; instructional and teaching materials; plastic sheets, films and bags for wrapping and packaging; printers' type, printing blocks.
That is the 2026 wording from the classification's own published text. It is worth reading twice, because almost every argument about Class 16 is settled inside it.
What else does the official note pull in?
More than most people expect. The explanatory note adds paper knives, document files, money clips, paper clips, passport holders and scrapbooks, none of which sound like stationery until you see them listed.
It also pulls in certain office machines, naming typewriters, duplicators, franking machines and pencil sharpeners. A machine can sit in a paper class when its purpose is an office one.
Artists' materials go further still, covering watercolour saucers, easels, palettes, paint rollers and trays, plus framed or unframed lithographs, paintings and watercolours as goods.
Which paper goods leave Class 16?
The ones classified by what they do rather than what they are made of. The official exclusion list is specific, and it catches several products a Nepali stationery maker might carry.
Photographic paper goes to Class 1 and abrasive paper to Class 3, because their chemistry decides their purpose. Paper clothing goes to Class 25 and cigarette paper to Class 34.
Paper plates and cups go to Class 21, indoor paper blinds to Class 20, and paper bed covers to Class 24. Paints leave for Class 2, and a sculptor's chisel for Class 8.
| Product | Not Class 16 | Why the classification moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Photographic paper | Class 1 | A chemical preparation, whatever the substrate |
| Abrasive or sanding paper | Class 3 | Classified as an abrasive, not as paper |
| Paper plates and cups | Class 21 | Household utensils and containers |
| Paper clothing | Class 25 | Clothing is decided by use, not material |
| Cigarette paper | Class 34 | Tobacco articles have their own class |
| Downloadable e-books | Class 9 | A file is not printed matter |
| Printing for others | Class 40 | A service performed on someone else's order |
Where does printing go?
Class 40, and the heading says so outright: treatment of materials; recycling of waste and trash; air purification and treatment of water; printing services; food and drink preservation.
Class 40 also holds bookbinding as a service, which produces the sharpest pairing in the whole area. Bookbinding material is in the Class 16 heading; bookbinding is a Class 40 service.
So a press that prints wedding cards to order is trading in Class 40. The same press selling blank cards off a shelf is trading in Class 16.
Where does publishing go?
Class 41, which lists publication of books and texts other than publicity texts among the services it includes. Education and entertainment share the class with it.
Advertising copy is the exception worth remembering. Writing and publishing publicity texts is pushed out of Class 41 and into Class 35, where advertising lives.
A Nepali publisher selling printed books therefore has a Class 16 goods interest and a Class 41 service interest in the same name. Our guide to goods against services works through that distinction generally.
How busy is Class 16 in Nepal?
Busier than the service classes around it. Our search index holds 1,329 published Class 16 entries, filed by 856 distinct applicants, with filing dates running from 2001 to 2026.
Class 40, which holds printing services, has 136. Class 41, which holds publishing, has 1,503 across every kind of education and entertainment business.
Read that as a signal, not a statistic. The gap suggests Nepali printers routinely file the goods class and leave the service class alone, which is a real exposure if the business is mostly contract printing.
Why is one class rarely enough?
Sec. 18A(2) of the Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act 1965 requires a separate application for goods or services placed in different categories. There is no multi-class form to ask for.
Sec. 18A(3) then allows a mark registered in one category to be registered in another if it belongs there, so adding a class later is a fresh application rather than an amendment.
The practical effect is a filing plan, not a single decision. Our note on choosing the right class walks through how to sequence it.
Does Nepal follow the current NICE edition?
Nepal uses the NICE classification without being a party to the Nice Agreement behind it. Sec. 18A(1) gives the Government power to classify goods or services for trade mark registration by a notification in the Nepal Gazette, and the Act never names the NICE classification at all.
The list itself is revised every year, so a heading quoted from an old source can be years out of date. Read the current wording on the World Intellectual Property Organization site before you rely on it, and see our background on how the classification works.
How should you write the goods list?
In plain trade language, item by item. "Exercise books; spiral notebooks; paper envelopes; kraft paper bags" tells an examiner far more than "stationery" does.
Copying the whole heading is the opposite mistake. It invites questions about goods you do not make and gives you nothing you would ever enforce.
Our goods and services search shows how other published marks phrase the same products, and the AI classifier turns a plain description into candidate classes.
How do you search Class 16 before filing?
Start with the word, then the variants nobody thinks of. Nepal is first-to-file, so the earliest complete application generally takes priority and a delay is a real risk. Our Nepal trade mark search covers marks published in the Industrial Property Bulletin, where paper brands cluster around a few common roots.
Narrow by class with class-scoped browsing to see how crowded Class 16 is, and run the shortlist through the conflict checker.
A published-mark search is screening, not clearance. It cannot show applications still waiting for publication, so our search service takes the check further.
What does filing involve?
- Fix the owner. The firm, company or individual that will hold the mark, named as in the records.
- Settle the goods. A specific list for Class 16, plus a separate list for any service class.
- Search each class. A clash in Class 16 does not tell you anything about Class 40.
- File one application per class, on the form specified in Schedule 1(c), with four specimens of the mark.
- Answer the examiner. Objections on similarity or vagueness need evidence and a narrower list.
- Follow publication. Publication in the bulletin opens the objection period before a registration certificate can issue.
Our trademark registration service runs the preparation and the follow-up across both classes at once.
What documents does the Department want?
Section 17(1) sets the core: an application in the format specified in Schedule 1(c), with four specimens of the mark. In practice a Nepali company also brings a board authority, a power of attorney where an agent signs, its industry registration and, if it is an established business, a current tax clearance; a newly formed company will not have one yet.
A foreign applicant files through a representative here and adds certified home papers. Confirm the current list with the Department of Industry before you assemble it.
How long does it take?
Longer than most published figures suggest. Our own data puts the gap between filing and bulletin publication at often fifteen to eighteen months, with a wide spread either side.
Publication then opens the objection period. Treat any date you are quoted as an estimate rather than a commitment, and do not print packaging against it.
How long is the objection period?
Ninety days. A published trade mark can be opposed within ninety days of its publication in the Industrial Property Bulletin; the thirty-five days in Sec. 21A(2) concern complaints about the particulars of marks already registered.
Rely on the deadline the Department of Industry states and act before the last day. Our opposition and enforcement service handles the filing itself.
How long does a Class 16 registration last?
Seven years from the date of registration under Sec. 18D. Sec. 23B sets the renewal term, requiring renewal within thirty-five days of expiry, with a late window of six months on payment of a fine, after which the registration is automatically cancelled.
A trade mark may be renewed any number of times, seven years at a time, so the right can run indefinitely if the dates are kept. Our renewal calculator and renewal service both work from the registration date.
There is also a use requirement. Under Sec. 18C, a mark not brought into use within a year of registration can be cancelled after enquiry.
Can you print the registered symbol on your stationery?
Not before the registration exists. The symbols have no legal standing in Nepal, and the Nepal Law Commission text of the Act never uses them.
What the Act does have is the opposite rule. Sec. 18B forbids using a trade mark as a registered trade mark without registering it, and Sec. 19 backs that with a fine and confiscation of the goods involved.
For a stationery business that prints its own packaging in bulk, this is a costly mistake to discover late.
Common mistakes
- Filing "printing services" in Class 16, where services do not belong.
- Copying the class heading instead of listing the goods you sell.
- Assuming a Class 16 filing covers the shop, which is Class 35.
- Treating a downloadable edition as printed matter.
- Quoting a class heading from an old source without checking the current text.
- Printing the registration symbol on stock before the certificate exists.
- Filing the logo, redesigning it, and never refiling the new one.
A worked example
Bagmati Leaf makes exercise books and kraft bags, and also prints corporate diaries to order. This is an illustration, not a real case, but a realistic shape for a Nepali paper business.
Its Class 16 application lists the books, the bags and the printed diaries as goods. Its Class 40 application covers printing done to a customer's order, which is a different revenue line with a different buyer.
It leaves Class 35 until it opens a stationery shop, and keeps a note that the downloadable planner it is planning would be a Class 9 question rather than a Class 16 one.
What should a paper business do first?
Four steps, and none of them requires a decision on filing yet. Getting the list right is most of the work.
In short
Class 16 is a goods class about paper and what is printed on it. If you are paid for the object, it is probably Class 16; if you are paid for the work or the words, look at Class 40 or Class 41.
Read the current heading and exclusion list before filing, write the goods specifically, and file each class separately because the Act requires it.
For the wider frame, see what a trade mark is in Nepal and what can be registered.
People also search for
- Class 1, chemicals, where photographic paper sits
- Class 2, paints and coatings
- Class 3, cleaning preparations and abrasives
- Class 9, electronics and downloadable publications
- Intellectual property law in Nepal
If your business both sells paper goods and prints for other people, the class question is really a budget question about which line to protect first. Contact our team and we will map the products to the filings with you.
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