The Design Term in Nepal, Year by Year: A Renewal Calendar That Ends at Fifteen
The design term Nepal registrations run: 5+5+5 years, the 35-day renewal windows, fees per term, a worked calendar, and the absolute public-domain end at year 15.
A design registration in Nepal is a countdown that starts the day it registers: five years, two possible renewals, and an absolute end at year fifteen. No trademark-style infinite renewal, no patent-style 21 years — three terms, then the look belongs to everyone.
The whole discipline of keeping a design alive fits in one calendar. This guide builds that calendar: the windows, the fees, and a worked example from registration to public domain.
In short
The design term in Nepal runs 5 years from registration, renewable at most twice for 5 years each — a 15-year ceiling under Section 23B. Each renewal is filed on Schedule 2(e) within 35 days of expiry, with a 6-month grace period carrying a NPR 1,000 fine; fees are NPR 1,000 per year across years 5–10 and NPR 2,000 per year across years 10–15. At year 15 the design enters the public domain — no filing brings it back.
The design term in Nepal: 5+5+5, and not a day more
The cap is not a technicality; it is the design right's design. Appearance-based protection is meant to be temporary — long enough to reward the maker, short enough that product looks eventually circulate freely. Businesses plan around the ceiling rather than fight it, and the planning tool is a calendar built on the registration date.
| Period | Status | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Years 0–5 | Initial term | NPR 1,000 application + NPR 7,000 registration (at filing) |
| Year 5 (+35 days) | First renewal due | NPR 1,000 per year for years 5–10 |
| Year 10 (+35 days) | Second — final — renewal | NPR 2,000 per year for years 10–15 |
| Year 15 | Ceiling reached | Design enters the public domain |
A worked renewal calendar
Take a design registered on 2 March 2022. The initial term runs to 2 March 2027. The first renewal is due within 35 days of expiry — a normal-fee deadline of 6 April 2027, at NPR 1,000 per year for the second term. Miss it and a six-month grace period runs to about 2 September 2027, adding the NPR 1,000 fine. The second renewal keys off 2 March 2032 the same way — 35 days, then grace — at NPR 2,000 per year. On 2 March 2037 the fifteen years end and the protection does too.
Convert the registration's BS date to AD once, verify it, and hang every deadline on the converted date. A BS/AD slip at a month boundary is the classic way a design calendar goes wrong before it starts.
The renewal paperwork, twice in a lifetime
The paperwork is light; the risk is the calendar. A renewal is complete when the register reflects the renewed term — follow the filing through to register confirmation rather than assuming the fee payment closed the matter.
- Schedule 2(e): the renewal application, filed at the Industrial Property Section
- Registration certificate: original or a certified copy if lost
- Proprietor documents: proving the requester is the registered owner
- Power of Attorney: where an agent files — notarised for foreign proprietors
- Fee per year of the term: NPR 1,000/year in the first renewal term, NPR 2,000/year in the second
Design term versus trademark term on the same product
Products protected by both a design and a trademark age differently: the design hits its ceiling while the mark renews forever. The classic arc is a label or trade dress that starts as a registered design and, through years of continuous use, becomes protectable as a trademark — brand equity quietly replacing the expiring design right. Plan that transition deliberately: keep the trademark filings current on the product's branding elements, and year 15 becomes a non-event instead of an exposure.
Triage: which designs earn their renewals
Because the ceiling is absolute, renewal is portfolio triage. NPR 2,000 per year is cheap only if the look still sells; the second renewal is the sharper call, and the review questions above are how it gets made.
- Still selling? A look still shipping in volume at year 5 justifies the first renewal without debate
- Still distinctive? Has the category's styling moved past the registered look?
- Still copied? Evidence of copying is evidence the right is earning its keep
- A no to all three is a deliberate, documented lapse — not neglect
Build the calendar on the day of registration
Designs are the right most often lost to silence rather than to challenge. The habit that prevents it costs one minute: when the certificate arrives, diarise the year-5 and year-10 anniversaries — in BS and AD — with internal reminders set well before the 35-day windows open. A portfolio of designs multiplies the dates; a deadline system, not memory, is what keeps each 5-year term alive.
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This article is general information, not legal advice.