• 07 Aug, 2026
  • Updated 18 Oct, 2026
  • International & IP Law
  • IP Sewa
  • 13 min read

It is a record, not the source of your rights. Sec. 5(1) of the Copyright Act 2002 (2059 BS) says registration "shall not be required to acquire the right under this Act", so the copyright already existed before the certificate was printed. The document proves what you told the office, and when.

Key takeaways

  • Sec. 5(1) makes registration optional. The right arises from creating the work, and the certificate records a claim about it.
  • The Act never uses the word "certificate". Sec. 5(2) allows voluntary registration "as prescribed", so the document comes from the Rules.
  • It is issued by the Nepal Copyright Registrar's Office, not the Department of Industry, which handles trade marks, patents and designs.
  • The Act never calls a certificate prima facie evidence, so treat that as an ordinary evidence argument, not a status the statute grants.
  • Sec. 6 decides who owns the economic right, and it does not always match the name printed on the paper.
  • Sec. 31 gives 35 days to appeal a Registrar's order or decision to the Appellate Court for the area.
  • Sec. 38 requires an infringement case within three months of learning of it, and a certificate does not extend that.

Does the Act even mention a certificate?

No. Counted over the official English text published by WIPO, the word "certificate" appears zero times in the Copyright Act 2002.

What the Act provides is registration. Section 5(2) says a person who intends to register a work, sound recording, performance or broadcasting voluntarily may apply to the Registrar, "and the procedures on registration shall be as prescribed".

So the certificate is a creature of the Rules and office practice rather than of the statute, which is why its format is a matter to confirm with the office rather than look up in the Act.

Where do the rights come from, then?

From creating the work. Sec. 3 extends copyright protection to any work, and Section 5(1) states plainly that registration is not required to acquire the right.

That is the opposite of how a trade mark works, where Sec. 16(1) of the Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act 1965 gives title on registration at the Department of Industry. Copyright starts by itself; a trade mark does not.

Losing the certificate does not lose the copyright. A primer on the four rights is our note on copyright against trade marks, patents and designs.

The right and the recordTwo panels. The left panel shows the right, which arises on creation under Section three, cannot be lost by losing paper, and is decided by Section six. The right panel shows the record, which is voluntary under Section five subsection two, is not named in the Act, and proves what was told to the office and when. A band beneath states that only one of the two can be reprinted.The right and the record are different thingsThe rightArises when you create the workSection 3 protects any work.Ownership is decided by Section 6.Survives losing every documentYou cannot reprint this.The recordVoluntary, under Section 5(2).Never named in the Act itselfShows what you told the officeAnd the date you told themYou can ask for a copy.Sec. 5(1): registration is not required to acquire the right.
One of these you can reprint. The other you cannot.

Is the certificate prima facie evidence?

The Act does not say so. "Prima facie" appears nowhere in the Copyright Act 2002, and no section attaches a presumption to a registration or a certificate.

That does not make the document worthless. It means its weight is an ordinary question of evidence for the court, argued like any other document, rather than a status the statute hands you.

The difference is practical. A certificate put before a judge alongside drafts, contracts and dated files is strong; one offered alone, contradicted by the other papers, is not.

Does the name on it settle who owns the work?

Not by itself. Sec. 6(1) makes the author the first owner of the economic right, and Section 6(2) then moves that right in several situations, some of which surprise people.

Payment for a work should not be relied on to move the economic right; a signed written assignment under Sec. 24(1) should. The table below sets out the situations the Act lists.

So a certificate naming the wrong party does not move ownership, and one naming the right party does not repair a missing contract. Keep the commission or employment agreement with the certificate, always.

SituationWho holds the economic rightProvision
One author, working for themselvesThe authorSec. 6(1).
A joint workThe co-authors, part by part where the parts can be used separatelySec. 6(2)(a).
A joint work made at someone's directionThe person or organisation who directed or initiated itSec. 6(2)(b).
A work made for paymentThe author, unless a written assignment (or a specific Sec. 6(2) exception) says otherwiseSec. 6, Sec. 24.
An anonymous workThe publisher, until authorship is provedSec. 6(2)(d).
A work prepared by the GovernmentThe Government of NepalSec. 40.

What can a certificate never cover?

Sec. 4 is unusually blunt about this. Copyright protection does not extend to any thought, religion, news, method of operation, concept, principle, court judgment, administrative decision, folksong, folktale, proverb or general data.

"Method of operation" does a lot of work in that list. A business process or a teaching system is outside copyright however original it feels, even when the written description is protected.

Registering something does not move it inside that boundary. A certificate over a document describing a method protects the document, as our note on what registration does and does not do explains.

What should you check the week it arrives?

  1. The title of the work, character for character, against the file you submitted and against the name you use commercially.
  2. The author's name, spelled as it appears on the identity document you will rely on later.
  3. The owner's name, tested against Section 6 rather than against who paid the registration charge.
  4. The category of the work, because a photograph or a work of applied art carries a shorter term than a book or a manuscript.
  5. Whether it is recorded as published or unpublished, which affects how some terms are counted.
  6. The specimen the office holds, which should be the same version you will one day compare a copy against.
  7. The date, scanned and stored somewhere that survives a change of staff or a lost laptop.

Do it once, properly, while the application is fresh. An error found three years later, mid-negotiation, is far more expensive.

Check these fields firstA checklist of six fields to verify. The title of the work. The author name as it appears on identity documents. The owner tested against Section six. The work category, because photographs carry a shorter term. Whether the work is published or unpublished. The specimen the office holds and the date.Six fields worth an hour of your timeTitle of the work, character for character against what you filedAuthor name, spelled as on the identity document you will rely onOwner, tested against Sec. 6 and not against who paidCategory, because a photograph carries a shorter termPublished or unpublished, which changes how a term is countedThe specimen held by the office, and the date, both scanned
Cheap to raise now, expensive to discover mid-negotiation.

What if a detail is wrong, or the application is refused?

Ask the office first, and never alter the document yourself. The correction route sits in the Rules and office practice, so the Registrar's counter is the place to start.

The Act gives a formal route as well. Sec. 31 says a party not satisfied with any order or decision of the Registrar may appeal to the Appellate Court for the area where the Registrar's Office is situated, within 35 days.

That is a short window. If you are anywhere near it, take advice from a lawyer rather than waiting for a reply by post.

Who signs it, and what is the Registrar?

An officer, not an institution of its own. Sec. 30(1) allows the Government of Nepal, by notification in the Nepal Gazette, to designate any officer of at least gazetted second class to act as the Registrar under the Act.

Sec. 2(n) defines "Registrar" by reference to that designation, so the authority behind the certificate is a named office-holder exercising statutory functions.

The office is entirely separate from the Department of Industry. Our guide to the registration process covers what happens at that counter step by step.

No. Sec. 14 fixes the term by the type of work and the facts of its creation, and registration is nowhere in that calculation.

The general rule is the author's life plus fifty years counted from the year of death. Section 14(5) is the exception people miss: a work of applied art or a photographic work is protected for twenty-five years from the year it was prepared.

Section 41 adds a detail that changes real dates: a year is counted from the Bikram Sambat New Year following the year the work was published. Our note on how long copyright lasts works through each category.

The term ignores the certificateA horizontal timeline with four markers. Creation comes first, where the right begins. Registration comes next and is optional. Then the certificate is issued. Then the term expires, counted from the author death year or, for applied art and photographs, from the year of preparation. A band beneath says none of the middle markers moves the last one.The term is fixed by the work, not by the paperCreationThe right beginsRegistrationOptionalCertificateIssuedExpirySet by Sec. 14.Neither middle marker moves the last oneLife of the author plus fifty years from the year of death, ortwenty-five years from the year of preparation for applied artand photographic works, under Section 14(5).
Registration sits in the middle of this line and moves none of it.

Does moral right come with the certificate?

No. Sec. 8(1) gives the author the right to be named, to prevent mutilation that undermines their reputation, and to revise the work, and Section 8(2) makes that right non-transferable during the author's life.

So a company can hold every economic right the certificate records and still hold no moral right at all. Keep the distinction in mind before promising a client something you cannot deliver.

How fast must you act if somebody copies the work?

Faster than most people expect. Sec. 38 requires a case to be filed within three months of learning that a right under the Act has been infringed, and nothing about holding a certificate extends that.

So it is most useful when the surrounding evidence is already assembled: dated files, the contract, the specimen and a record of when you first saw the copy. Our note on how infringement is dealt with sets out the routes.

This page is general information, not legal advice. A live dispute with a three-month clock on it is a conversation for a lawyer, and it should happen in the first week rather than the last.

How does it differ from a trademark certificate?

At almost every point. A trade mark registration certificate comes from the Department of Industry under the Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act, covers one category of the NICE classification, and creates the right rather than recording one.

It also runs on a clock. A trade mark lasts seven years and is renewable, whereas copyright is fixed by Section 14 and never renewed. A trade mark application is published and carries an opposition period; a copyright registration is not.

The overlap is real for a logo, where the artwork can be a copyright work and the sign can be a trade mark. If that is your position, search the published register with our trade mark search and read copyright against trade mark.

Two certificates, two systemsA two column grid. The copyright certificate comes from the Copyright Registrar Office, records a right that already exists, covers a work, has a term set by Section fourteen and is never renewed. The trademark registration certificate comes from the Department of Industry, creates the right, covers one category of the NICE classification, runs seven years and is renewable.Two certificates, two systemsCopyright certificateTrade mark certificateCopyright Registrar OfficeRecords a right you already haveDepartment of IndustryCreates the right on registrationCovers one workRegistration is voluntaryCovers one NICE categoryRegistration is the only routeTerm set by Section 14.Never renewedSeven years from registrationRenewable without limitA logo can be both at once: artwork and a sign.
Different office, different statute, and only one creates the right.

No. Our filing work is industrial property at the Department of Industry: trade marks, patents and industrial designs. We do not file copyright applications, and we would rather say so than take the instruction.

If your question is really about a brand name or a logo used as a sign, that is a trade mark question and our registration service covers it. For the copyright side, go to the Registrar's Office or to a lawyer who does that work.

You are still welcome to ask us which right you are dealing with. Telling the two apart costs nothing and is where most of these questions actually end.

Common mistakes

  • Believing the right starts with the certificate. Section 5(1) says the opposite in as many words.
  • Quoting it as prima facie evidence. The Act never uses that phrase, so argue the document, not a presumption.
  • Naming the company as owner without the contract Section 6 assumes is there.
  • Registering a method or a concept. Section 4 puts both outside copyright however the paperwork reads.
  • Filing a later version than the one described, so specimen and claim disagree.
  • Waiting out the Section 38 limitation while gathering evidence.
  • Taking it to the Department of Industry. Wrong office, wrong statute, wrong right.

What does this look like in practice?

A Kathmandu studio is paid to design a mascot for a restaurant. The illustrator draws it, the restaurant pays, and the restaurant registers the artwork in its own name. This is an illustration, not a real case.

The restaurant should not rely on having paid. With a signed assignment from the studio under Section 24, the certificate and the paperwork agree; without one, the certificate names an owner the restaurant may not be able to prove. The illustrator's moral right stays with her regardless, because Section 8(2) makes it non-transferable during her life.

A year later a rival copies the mascot. The certificate helps, but what decides the case is the dated artwork files, the commission agreement and a claim filed inside the three months Section 38 allows.

In short

Your certificate is a voluntary record of a right you already held. The Act does not name it, require it or give it a presumption, so it works best beside contracts and dated files rather than in place of them.

Check every field the week it arrives, keep it with the ownership paperwork, and remember that the deadlines run from events in the world, not from the date on the page.

People also search for

If you hold a certificate and cannot tell what it covers, read it against Section 6 for ownership and Section 14 for the term, then ask the Registrar's Office about anything wrong. Where the real question is a brand rather than a work, the Department of Industry is the office, and you can contact our team to check the published trade mark register.

#registration#enforcement#copyright#creators#nepal ip law
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