Trademark Class 19 in Nepal — Building Materials (What It Covers & How to File)

Class 19 is the trademark class for building materials that are not of metal. Cement, bricks, stone, timber, building glass and asphalt live here. Those three words are doing almost all the work, and they are where most Class 19 filings go wrong.

Key takeaways

• The heading is materials, not of metal, for building and construction, plus rigid non-metal pipes, asphalt, pitch, tar and bitumen, and non-metal monuments.
• Our index holds 2,055 published Class 19 entries, an IP Sewa count that makes it Nepal's eleventh busiest class.
• The same product in metal is Class 6. A non-metal door is Class 19 and a steel one is Class 6.
• Insulating material is Class 17, and covering for an existing floor is Class 27.
• Building the house is Class 37, a service class. Selling the cement is Class 19, a goods class.
• Sec. 18A(2) of the Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act 1965 requires a separate application for each category.
• Sec. 18D gives seven years from registration, and the renewal term under Sec. 23B may be repeated.

What does trademark Class 19 cover in Nepal?

The heading WIPO currently publishes reads: materials, not of metal, for building and construction; rigid pipes, not of metal, for building; asphalt, pitch, tar and bitumen; transportable buildings and monuments, not of metal.

Nepal applies that published list because Sec. 18A(1) lets the government adopt a classification of goods and services by notification in the Nepal Gazette. The Department of Industry then examines your goods against it.

Five ideas sit inside that one sentence, and only the first is remembered. The pipes, the bitumen family, the transportable buildings and the monuments are each a separate route into the class.

What does the explanatory note actually say?

It gives the organising principle the heading hides, and it is short: Class 19 includes mainly materials, not of metal, for building and construction. Everything else follows from what a thing is made of.

The published inclusions are more generous than most applicants expect. They name building wood such as beams, planks and panels, veneers, building glass including glass tiles and safety glass, granite, marble, gravel, terra-cotta and geotextiles.

Some entries surprise people. Gravestones not of metal are Class 19, as are statues of stone or marble, letter boxes of masonry, non-metal scaffolding and roofing carrying photovoltaic cells.

How busy is Class 19 in Nepal's published register?

Busier than the trade's profile suggests. Across the 122 Industrial Property Bulletin issues we index, Class 19 carries 2,055 published entries, filed between 2004 and 2026.

That makes it the eleventh busiest of the 45 classes in our index, well ahead of Class 6 on 818 entries and Class 37 on 675.

These are IP Sewa counts of published bulletin entries, not official Department of Industry statistics, and they carry no registration status. Browse the shelf with marks by class.

Where is the line with Class 6?

The material, and nothing else. Class 6 is common metals and their alloys, ores, metal materials for building and construction, transportable metal buildings and small items of metal hardware.

The classification runs the same product through both classes. Doors, window frames, roofing, scaffolding and pipes all appear in Class 19 qualified by "not of metal" and again in Class 6 in their metal form.

So a factory making both uPVC and aluminium windows under one brand needs two applications. Our note on Class 6 metals and hardware works that side of the line.

Where is the line with Class 17?

Purpose. Class 17 holds unprocessed and semi-processed rubber, plastics and resins in extruded form for manufacture, packing and stopping materials, and above all insulation.

Class 19's exclusion list is explicit and sends substances for insulating buildings against moisture to Class 17, along with flexible non-metal pipes, tubes and hoses. Rigid pipes for building stay in Class 19.

Rigid against flexible is therefore a real test for a pipe manufacturer, as is whether the product is sold to build with or to insulate.

Is flooring Class 19 or Class 27?

It depends on whether the floor already exists. Class 27 is carpets, rugs, mats and matting, linoleum and other materials for covering a floor already constructed.

Class 19 holds the floor itself. Tile floorings not of metal and wooden floor boards are published Class 19 indications, because they are part of the structure rather than laid on top of it.

A tile importer who also sells vinyl roll and door mats has crossed a class line. Test each product with the NICE class finder before drafting.

Does Class 19 cover the building work itself?

No, and this split costs contractors the most. Class 37 is construction services, installation and repair services, and mining extraction, which makes it a service class.

Class 19 protects the brand on the bag and the pallet. Class 37 protects the brand on the hoarding outside a site where your crew is putting the material up.

A company that manufactures blocks and also builds with them needs both. The wider split is set out in goods against services in classification.

What leaves Class 19 altogether?

WIPO publishes the exclusions beside the class, and each names where the product goes instead. Read them as a checklist against your catalogue before settling a specification.

Two catch Nepali sellers regularly: the waterproofing compound stacked beside the cement, and the vehicle glass sold by a business that also supplies building glass. Check anything the table misses with the AI class classifier.

Which Class 19 goods matter most to a Nepali manufacturer?

The published indication list is the wording an examiner already recognises, so borrowing from it beats inventing a phrase. It names bricks, cement, concrete building elements, mortar, plaster, sand, gravel, granite, marble and slate.

It also covers most of a joinery catalogue, with doors, door frames, windows, window frames, building glass, wood panelling, veneers, semi-worked wood and wooden floor boards all published as Class 19 goods.

Roofing is well served too, from tiles and slates to gutters and flashing. See how a phrase has been used with the goods and services search.

How do you file a Class 19 trademark in Nepal?

At the Department of Industry, one class at a time, and preferably before the sacks are printed rather than after a competitor has seen one.

1. Clear the name first. Run it through the conflict checker, testing sound as well as spelling.
2. Look at who else is filing. The owner search shows what a competing cement or tile maker has published.
3. Write the goods list. Name the products you actually sell, in published wording, rather than copying the heading across.
4. Count the classes. Since Sec. 18A(2) allows one category per application, a maker who also builds counts two.
5. File the bundle. Sec. 17 asks for the prescribed form together with four specimens of the mark.
6. Answer the examination. The Department may raise distinctiveness, an earlier mark, or the goods wording.
7. Follow it to the certificate. Publication and the objection stage come before registration.

What documents does a Class 19 filing need?

A Nepali applicant supplies the prescribed form, four specimens of the mark, the certificate or permit for the business, and a company's internal approval where required.

Where somebody files on your behalf, the Department's form asks for an अधिकारनामा, a power of attorney, and under Sec. 20 the acts of that attorney count as your own.

A foreign cement or tile company files nationally through a representative, because Sec. 21B says title to a mark registered abroad is not valid in Nepal until registered here as well.

What happens after the Department accepts the mark?

It is published. Sec. 21A has the Department publish registered designs and trade marks, with particulars of their renewal or cancellation, for the information of the public.

Publication is the moment a rival gets its chance to object. Current practice allows a 90-day opposition window for a trade mark, while the bare text of Sec. 21A sets 35 days, so put that difference to an advocate rather than choosing one yourself.

In a class where several large manufacturers file steadily, expect real scrutiny. You can read the issues yourself through the published trademark search.

How long does a Class 19 mark last, and how is it renewed?

Seven years under Sec. 18D, running from the date of registration rather than from the date you filed. That distinction matters more than it looks when diarising a renewal.

The renewal term under Sec. 23B may be repeated, so the right is renewable indefinitely in principle. Renewal falls due within 35 days of expiry, with a further six-month window on payment of a fine before the registration is cancelled.

Sec. 18C adds a use requirement few applicants expect, since a mark not brought into use within one year of registration can be cancelled after inquiry. Our renewal service keeps the dates in view.

Common mistakes

• Mixing metal and non-metal in one class. The same door needs Class 6 and Class 19.
• Writing "building materials" and stopping. Examiners want the actual goods named.
• Forgetting the contracting arm. Building with the material is Class 37.
• Treating flooring as one product. Tiles are Class 19, carpet is Class 27.
• Bundling the waterproofing compound in. That is a Class 1 chemical.
• Filing after the launch. Nepal is first-to-file, and a trade name is not a trade mark.

A worked example

This is an illustration, not a real case. A Chitwan manufacturer launches one name across cement blocks, aluminium window frames, damp-proof membrane and a crew that installs all three.

The blocks are Class 19, straightforwardly, and the brand on the pallet is protected there. The aluminium frames are Class 6, because the identical product in metal sits in the metal class.

The damp-proof membrane is Class 17, since it insulates rather than builds, and the installation crew is Class 37.

Four applications, then, for one name. Filing only the first leaves three parts of the same business open for somebody else to register.

What can a class number not settle?

Whether the name is distinctive, whether somebody already holds something close, and whether the mark would survive an objection. The class only describes the goods.

Building brands lean on words like strong, rock, everest and shakti, so near-identical names cluster and a perfectly correct Class 19 filing can still fail on similarity.

For a considered view before the die is cut, our clearance service weighs name, goods and similarity together, and choosing the right class covers the classification decision.

In short

Class 19 is non-metal building material, plus rigid non-metal pipes, the asphalt and bitumen family, transportable non-metal buildings and monuments. Metal goes to Class 6, insulation to Class 17, floor coverings to Class 27 and building work to Class 37.

It is also busier than expected, with 2,055 published entries in our index. Getting the class right is the easy half; clearing a name against what is published is the other.

The classification is published by WIPO, the Act by the Nepal Law Commission, and every application is decided by the Department of Industry. The wider framework is in intellectual property law in Nepal.

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Send us the whole catalogue, from the bag of cement to the installation crew, and we will say how many classes it needs and whether the name clears. Start with trademark registration, or put the label to us through contact before the print run.