Patent, Design, and Trade-Mark Act, 1965 of Nepal

Any person can acquire title to the trade-marks after having it registered in Nepal.

No person shall use a trade-marks registered in the name of any other person, without the written permission of the latter, or operate such trade-marks by imitating it in such a manner as to deceive the general public.

Any person wishing to have the trademark of his business registered, shall submit to the department along with four specimens of such trade-marks.

No mark will be registered which may hurt the prestige of any individual or institution or adversely affect the public conduct or morality or undermine the national interest or the reputation of the trade-marks of any other person, or in case such trade-marks found to have already been registered in the name of another person.

Separate applications must be submitted to register trade-marks of goods or services placed in different categories.

The trade-marks registered for goods or services in one category may be registered for goods or services under another category.

No trade-marks may be used be used as a registered trade-marks without registering it at the department.

In case a trade-marks registered at the department is not brought into use within one year from the date of registration thereof, the department shall conduct necessary inquiries and cancel such registration.

The title of the person in whose name a trade-marks has been registered under Section 18 shall remain valid for a period of seven years from the date of registration thereof, except when it is renewed according to the law.

Filing Requirements: Nepal generally grants registration on the basis of a home country registration. The Applicant needs to make an application on their company letterhead duly signed and sealed. Along with the same, the Power of attorney is also required to be sealed and attested by two witnesses.

Certified copy of home or foreign registration certificate duly notarized (attested by notary public) with English translation is required to be filed. It may be noted that an applicant may file in Nepal within 6 months on filing in their home country. However, the registration certificate in Nepal will be granted only once the applicant files the certified copy of the registration certificate in the home country.

The other aspect to be noted is that Nepal will grant you registration only in respect of those goods as are mentioned in the home registration certificate. No additional goods or services will be protected.

Any person may acquire under this act title to the design of any article manufactured or caused to be manufactured by him after getting it registered.

No person shall manufacture any article by using the design registered in the name of any person under without the latter's written permission, or by imitating such designs so as to deceive the general public.

Any person desirous of having the design of any article manufactured or caused to be manufactured by him registered shall submit to the Department an application together with four copies of such design and maps, and drawings and particulars thereof.

On receipt of the application filed by any person, the department shall register the design in the name of the applicant and then issue to him a certificate of registration.

No design will be registered in case such design hurts the prestige of any individual or institution or adversely affects the public conduct or morality, or undermines the national interest, or in case such design has already been registered in the name of any other person.

The title of the person in whose name a design has been registered shall remain valid for a period of five years from the date of registration thereof, except when it is renewed.

Any person desirous of obtaining right over any patent shall have such patents registered in his name under this act.

The patent registered in the name of any person under this Act shall not be copied by any other person or operated or used in his name during the term of the patent without the written permission of the patentee.

The patent registered in the name of any person under this act can be transferred by him in any manner to any other person like movable property. Provided that the person obtaining right over the patent consequent to such transfer shall not operate or use it in any manner in his name or that of any person other than the patentee himself unless he (the transferee) has the transfer effected in the relevant Register maintained at the Department.

A person desirous of having any patent registered in his name shall submit to the Department an application, containing the particulars mentioned below, along with all available evidence in his possession:-

Along with the application the applicant shall also submit mans and drawings along with particulars, of the patent, as well as the fee as specified.

On receipt of application, the Department shall, on the advice also of experts if so considered necessary, conduct investigation or studies to ascertain whether the patent investigations in the application is a new invention or not, and whether it is useful to the general public or not, and thereafter decide whether or not to register such patent.

In case the Department feels that any patent should not be registered in the circumstances, it shall give a notice to the applicant to the effect that the patent cannot be registered according to his application.

The Department shall not register any patent under this act in the following circumstances:-

Provided that noting contained in Clause (a) shall be deemed to have prejudiced the transfer of the registration of any patent.

On receipt of applications for registration of any patents, the department shall, after completing necessary investigations issue a registration certificate.

Patents registered under this act, other than those which must be kept secret in the national interest, shall be published by the department in the Nepal Rajapatra for the information of the public.

In case anybody desires to see or copy the particulars, maps, or drawings of a patent published, he may be allowed to do so after paying the fees prescribed by the department.

In case anyone has any objection to such a patent, he may file a complaint with the department within a period of 35 days from the date of seeing or copying the patent. In case any complaint is received under Sub-Section (3), the department shall take necessary action after conducting inquiries.

The title of the patentee to the patent shall be valid for a period of seven years from the date of registration thereof under Section 7, except when it is renewed.

In the case of patents registered before the commencement of this Section, the term fixed according to the provision in force at the time of registration thereof shall be valid, and after the expiry of that term, the patent must be renewed.

In case any patentee transfers any patent registers in his name after relinquishing his title there to the transferee shall submit an application to the department for removing the name of the transfer from the patent register and then registering his own name therein.

In case any person files such an application, the department shall send a notice to the patentee whose name is mentioned in the register direction him to file complaints with it within 15 days if he has any objection tot he transfer of his patent according to the application submitted by the transferee. In case the patentee files complaints accordingly within this time-limit ad it becomes necessary to determine which of the two parties has title to the patent, such transfer shall be stayed pending the judgment of a court on such dispute. In case no complaint is filed within this time-limit, the transfer all be effected as requested in the application.

The person applying for transfer of patent under the provisions of this Section shall pay along with the application the prescribed amount as transfer fee to the department.

The patentee shall submit to the National Archive also a copy of the design or model of the article manufactured according to the patent registered under this act.