How to Register a Trademark in the UK (from Nepal)

To register a trademark in the UK, a Nepali business files a national application with the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) under the Trade Marks Act 1994, using an address for service in the UK, Gibraltar or the Channel Islands. A Nepal registration does not reach Britain, and Nepal is outside the Madrid System.

Key takeaways

• A Department of Industry (DoI) registration protects your mark in Nepal only.
• The UK has used the Madrid System since 1995; Nepal has not joined, so a Kathmandu filing cannot designate Britain.
• Paris Convention priority lets a UK filing made within six months keep your Nepal filing date.
• Every application needs an address for service in the UK, Gibraltar or the Channel Islands.
• Accepted marks face a two-month opposition period, which a notice can stretch to three.
• A UK registration lasts ten years from the filing date and is renewable every ten years.

Does a Nepal trademark protect your brand in the UK?

No. Trademark rights stop at the border. Under Sec. 16 of Nepal's Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act 1965, title to a mark comes from registration at the DoI, and that register covers Nepal alone.

The UK works the same way. The IPO's guide, read on GOV.UK on 18 October 2026, says a UK registration protects a brand only in the UK and the Isle of Man; Jersey and Guernsey run separate processes.

Nepal's Sec. 21B likewise says a mark registered abroad has no validity here until it is registered in Nepal. British owners heading the other way should read our guide to trademark registration in Nepal for UK companies.

Who keeps the UK trade mark register?

The Intellectual Property Office, a UK government body widely called the UKIPO, examines applications and keeps the register under the Trade Marks Act 1994. Its trade marks database is free to search before you choose a name.

One detail surprises many applicants. GOV.UK warns that your application is published online as soon as you apply, so secure the matching domain names before you file.

Can a Nepali business use the Madrid System to reach the UK?

Not from Nepal. WIPO's party table for the Madrid Protocol, read on 18 October 2026, lists 117 members. The UK's ratification took effect on 1 December 1995; Nepal does not appear at all.

Article 2 of the Protocol lets an applicant file internationally only through the office of a member where it is a national, is domiciled, or has a real and effective business establishment. A Nepal application therefore cannot be the base for a UK designation. The live list is on WIPO's Madrid Protocol party table.

A Nepali group with a genuine operating company in a member country may qualify there instead, but take UK advice before relying on it.

Do EU trade marks still cover the UK?

No. Since 1 January 2021, after the UK left the EU, an EU trade mark has not protected anything in the UK. An EU filing today reaches the EU member states only.

To bridge the change, the IPO created a comparable UK trade mark on that date for every EU mark already registered. Each one kept the EU filing date and became a fully independent UK right.

How does Paris Convention priority link Nepal and the UK?

Both countries belong to the Paris Convention: the UK since 7 July 1884 and Nepal since 22 June 2001, per WIPO's party table. Article 4C of the Convention sets a six-month priority period for trademarks, counted from the first filing.

Section 35 of the UK Act applies it to the same mark for some or all of the same goods and services. File within six months and your UK rights date back to the Nepal filing date.

Priority rests on the Nepal filing date, not the certificate, which typically takes about 12–14 months (6–8 months in the smoothest cases). Over six months already? File in the UK now. Our Paris Convention guide explains the clock.

Why do you need a UK address for service?

An address for service is where the IPO and other parties send letters about your mark. GOV.UK says it must be in the UK, Gibraltar or the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man is also accepted.

The rule has teeth: without a valid address for service, an application can be treated as withdrawn. A Kathmandu office address will not do.

You do not need a UK company. Most foreign owners appoint a registered trade mark attorney, whose office becomes the address for service.

How do you prepare a UK application?

Prepare the work in this order:

1. Fix the owner and the mark. Use the full legal name, and the mark as it will appear on UK packs. A series application covers up to six close versions.
2. Appoint an address for service. Choose a UK representative before the priority date runs short.
3. Pick classes and terms. Select at least one class and one term; you cannot add terms after filing.
4. Search the UK register. Use the IPO's database; our NICE class finder gives a first direction on classes.
5. Collect priority papers. Note your Nepal filing date and number, and keep a certified English copy ready.

Unsure whether the mark meets the rules? The IPO's Right Start option checks it before you commit to the full fee.

How do classes work in the UK and in Nepal?

The UK joined the Nice Agreement with effect from 15 April 1963, per WIPO's party table, and uses the 45-class international list: Classes 1–34 for goods and 35–45 for services. One UK application can cover several classes, with a charge for each extra one.

Nepal is not a party to that Agreement, but the DoI still uses NICE classification under Sec. 18A, and Sec. 18A(2) needs a separate application for each class. A brand in three classes may need one UK application but three Nepal ones.

What happens after you file at the UKIPO?

The IPO says it sends an examination report within two to three weeks. If it raises objections, such as a mark that is descriptive or not distinctive, you have two months to resolve them.

The IPO also searches for identical or similar earlier marks, and if it finds any, it contacts both you and their holders.

Once objections are cleared, the application is published in the trade marks journal. With no problems, GOV.UK says grant usually takes three to four months.

How does opposition work in the UK?

The opposition period starts right after the journal advert and lasts two months. A would-be opponent can add one month by filing a TM7A notice of threatened opposition online within those two months.

Anyone may oppose on absolute grounds, such as a descriptive mark. Only the owner of an earlier mark or earlier right may oppose on relative grounds, and that earlier right need not be registered.

If your mark is opposed, both sides can agree a nine-month cooling-off period to settle, extendable to eighteen months. Unopposed, registration follows about ten weeks after publication, and section 40 has the IPO issue a certificate of registration.

How long does a UK registration last?

Section 42 of the UK Act registers a mark for ten years from the date of registration. Section 40(3) then deems that date to be the filing date, so the ten years run from filing.

The mark is renewable for further ten-year periods. GOV.UK says you can renew in the six months before expiry and up to six months after, with a late fee in that second window.

Miss both and one door remains: a postal request to restore, more than six months but less than a year after expiry, with a written statement the IPO must accept.

Use matters too. Section 46 lets anyone seek revocation of a mark not put to genuine use in the UK within five years of registration being completed, or for any later unbroken five years, without proper reasons. Nepal is stricter on paper: Sec. 18C allows cancellation of a mark not used within one year of registration.

Nepal and the UK side by side

In Nepal, Sec. 17 needs the application with four specimens of the mark, and the DoI examines it under Sec. 18. Nepal protects a mark for seven years from registration under Sec. 18D, renewable any number of times under Sec. 23B, within 35 days of expiry plus a six-month late window on a fine.

A published Nepal trademark can be opposed within 90 days of its publication in the Industrial Property Bulletin, and the first-to-file principle generally applies. Our renewal service tracks the Nepal dates; your UK representative tracks the rest.

What does Nepal's Bulletin data show about British brands?

These are IP Sewa counts of marks printed in DoI Bulletins, by the owner country recorded on each entry, not official registration figures.

Food and drink lead: Cadbury UK holds 31 Class 30 marks and United Biscuits 23, while Scotch whisky drives Class 33, led by Chivas Holdings with 20.

Publication peaked in 2022 with 149 marks, 62 of them TikTok's. Four UK entries carry Jersey, Gibraltar or Nepal addresses, and 14 UK-address entries sit under other countries. Look up British owners with our owner search or the main trademark search.

What can IP Sewa do, and what can it not?

IP Sewa files trademarks at Nepal's Department of Industry. We do not file in the UK; filings there go through representatives authorised in the UK. We handle the Nepal half: a DoI application whose date and goods list can support a UK priority claim, plus the Nepali documents your UK representative needs. For the Nepal filing you sign a notarised power of attorney appointing us.

Our trademark search service checks the Nepal register before you commit to a name, and our opposition team watches the Industrial Property Bulletin in Nepal. Comparing markets? See our guides to Australia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Common mistakes Nepali brands make in the UK

• Trusting the Nepal certificate. It gives no right in the UK.
• Relying on an EU mark. EU trade marks have not covered the UK since 1 January 2021.
• Letting six months pass. The priority window closes quietly.
• Filing without a UK address. The application can be treated as withdrawn.
• Over-listing terms. GOV.UK warns that terms you will not use within five years invite challenge.
• Confusing the clocks. The UK opposition period is two months against Nepal's 90-day opposition window, and UK terms count from filing.

What does a well-timed filing look like?

Here is an illustration, not a real case. "Kanchan Pashmina", a Kathmandu shawl maker, files its word mark in Class 25 at the DoI on 5 March. A London boutique wants winter stock.

In May, the company appoints a UK trade mark attorney as its address for service. The attorney files before 5 September, claiming the Nepal date, so both applications are pending when the first order ships.

In short: how do you register a trademark in the UK from Nepal?

File in Nepal first, then with the UKIPO through a UK address for service, within six months to keep your Nepal date. Expect a two-month opposition period and ten years of protection from filing. Nepal marks appear on the DoI's Bulletin page.

People also search for

• Registering a trademark abroad from Nepal
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Planning a brand for Nepal and Britain? Start with our Nepal trademark registration, or contact IP Sewa about your UK plan.