Changing a Trademark Owner's Name in Nepal: The DOI Record Change Process
Company renamed or proprietor changed? How to change the trademark owner name in Nepal at the DOI — NPR 1,000 per mark, the documents, and the traps.
Your company changed its name at the Office of the Company Registrar — or the proprietor formalised a business name — and the trademark register still shows the old one. Every renewal notice, enforcement letter and licence negotiation now stumbles over a mismatch the Department did not cause and will not fix for free.
The fix is a record change (recordal) at the Department of Industry, and it is one of the cheapest filings in the system. Done late, it is also one of the most expensive oversights.
In short
To change a trademark owner's name in Nepal, file a record change at the Department of Industry — NPR 1,000 per mark in current practice — with evidence that the same legal entity changed its name: updated company or firm registration, the name-change certificate, and the existing registration certificate. The key legal distinction: a pure name change is a recordal, while transferring the mark to a different entity is an assignment requiring a written deed and a NPR 2,000 recordal. Update every class registration separately, and do it before the next renewal so the renewal is filed in the correct name.
Change of trademark owner name vs. assignment in Nepal
Nepalese practice separates two events that look similar from the outside. A name change is the same legal person continuing under a new name — a private limited company renames at the company registrar, or a sole proprietor adopts a new trading name — and it is recorded as a record change, NPR 1,000 per mark.
An assignment moves the mark to a different legal person — the company sells the brand, a proprietorship incorporates and transfers assets to the new company, a partnership dissolves. That requires a written assignment deed and an assignment recordal at NPR 2,000 per mark. Filing the wrong instrument creates a register entry that does not match the paperwork — worse than filing none.
The documents that carry a name-change recordal
The record change application states the old name, the new name and the registration number, and attaches the proof chain: the name-change certificate from the Office of the Company Registrar (or the firm-registration update for proprietorships and partnerships), the updated registration documents showing the new name, and the original trademark registration certificate or its certified copy.
For agents filing on the owner's behalf, a Power of Attorney completes the set — routine for foreign owners, whose recordals route through the local agent of record. Names must match exactly across all documents; a spelling difference between the certificate and the corporate papers is the most common reason a recordal comes back with a query.
| Situation | Instrument | Fee (current practice) |
|---|---|---|
| Company renamed, same entity | Record change | NPR 1,000 per mark |
| Proprietor changes business name | Record change | NPR 1,000 per mark |
| Mark sold to another entity | Assignment deed + recordal | NPR 2,000 per mark |
| Registered address moved | Record change | NPR 1,000 per mark |
| Certified copy of certificate | Certified copy request | NPR 1,000 |
One filing per class — the single-class arithmetic again
Because Nepal registers one class per application, there is no single recordal that sweeps the portfolio: each class registration is a separate record change at NPR 1,000. A three-class brand renamed at the registrar files three record changes — and if the classes were registered in different years, their particulars may already differ, so the file should be read class by class first.
A practical sequence for a rename: update the corporate registration, collect the certificates for every mark, file the record changes together, and verify each register entry reflects the new name before closing the project.
Audit the portfolio
List every registration number, class and the name exactly as it appears on the register — the starting point for every filing.
File the record changes
One per mark, with the name-change evidence and certificates; confirm each register entry updates before the matter is closed.
Why the stale name is expensive later
The register entry is what renewals, oppositions, licences and enforcement all rely on. A renewal filed in the old name invites queries at exactly the moment the 35-day window is running; an infringement complaint filed by an entity the register does not show as owner hands the other side an easy defence; a buyer's diligence flags every mismatch as a defect to be fixed at deal speed.
The record change also feeds the transition horizon: as the proposed Industrial Property Bill 2082 moves the register toward a modernised, digital system, migrated records will be checked against reality — and the portfolios that pass are the ones whose owners paid NPR 1,000 per mark when the change happened.
Foreign owners: the agent as address of record
For a foreign proprietor, the Nepalese address of record is usually the local agent's — which means the trigger for a record change is often a change of agent rather than a physical move. The sequence matters: the new agent needs a fresh, notarised and consularly legalised Power of Attorney in place before the record change is filed, because the register should never point at a representative whose mandate has ended.
Foreign portfolios should also keep one standing general POA current with the agent of record, so renewals, record changes and oppositions never wait on a document chain that takes weeks to rebuild.
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This article is general information, not legal advice.