The Industrial Design Registration Process in Nepal, Step by Step
The industrial design registration process in Nepal, step by step: qualifying the design, four sets of representations, filing, fees and the 15-year term.
A design registration protects how a product looks — and in Nepal it is one of the fastest, cheapest IP rights to obtain, provided the filing shows the right thing. Applications here fail not because designs are weak but because the representations are wrong.
This guide walks the industrial design registration process in Nepal step by step: what qualifies, what to prepare, what the Department checks, and what the right costs and lasts.
In short
The industrial design registration process in Nepal runs under Sections 12–15 of the PDTA: confirm the design (shape, configuration, pattern or ornamentation applied to an article) qualifies, prepare four sets of representations, file on Schedule 1(b) at the Department of Industry with NPR 1,000, clear the narrow Section 14 examination, pay NPR 7,000 to register, and receive a certificate in Schedule 2(b) format after publication with a 35-day objection window. The right runs 5 years from registration, renewable twice — 15 years maximum.
Step zero: does the design qualify?
Sections 12–15 protect design features applied to an article by an industrial process: the shape of a water tap, the pattern woven into a textile, the configuration of a kitchen cabinet. The dividing lines are mechanical once stated — how a product *works* is patent territory, the *name or logo* on it is trademark territory, the *look of the product itself* is the design.
The design must be new against earlier registrations: Section 14's refusal grounds are narrow (prior registration, public morality, national interest, prestige), which shifts the diligence burden to the applicant — a quick search of registered designs and the market before filing is cheap insurance.
The industrial design registration process, step by step
The sequence below is a standard domestic filing at the Department of Industry.
Search registered designs and the market
Confirm the look is not already registered or already in the market as someone else's. Section 14 gives the Department a narrow examination, so the real commercial risk — registering a design that copies an earlier unregistered look — is yours to screen out.
Prepare four sets of representations
The drawings or images that show the design, identical across the four sets in practice, on neutral backgrounds, from consistent angles. Every variant of the product you want protected needs to be visible — the Department protects what is depicted, not what is implied.
Draft the particulars
State exactly what is claimed — and disclaim what is not, such as colour or surface pattern where they are not the point. The representations plus the particulars define the monopoly.
File on Schedule 1(b) and pay
Submit at the DOI with the NPR 1,000 application fee, the representations, the particulars and the applicant documents — plus a notarised Power of Attorney where an agent or foreign applicant files.
Examination
Formality-plus: the Department checks the Section 14 grounds and earlier registrations; queries over unclear representations are answered by amendment. No inventive-step or distinctiveness analysis applies — design examination is the lightest of Nepal's three industrial-property tracks.
Registration, certificate and publication
On acceptance, pay the NPR 7,000 registration fee; the design registers, a certificate issues in Schedule 2(b) format, and the design publishes — objections lie within 35 days of publication. Timeline: weeks to months, substantially faster than a patent.
Fees and the 5+5+5 term
Designs are Nepal's cheapest industrial-property right, with a hard ceiling: three terms and no more.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Application fee (Schedule 1(b)) | NPR 1,000 |
| Registration fee | NPR 7,000 |
| Initial term | 5 years from registration |
| Renewals (Schedule 2(e)) | Twice, 5 years each — 15-year maximum (Section 23B) |
| Renewal windows | 35 days after each expiry; 6-month grace with NPR 1,000 fine |
| Renewal fees | NPR 1,000/year (years 5–10); NPR 2,000/year (years 10–15) |
| Assignment recordal | NPR 3,000 |
Where the process most often goes wrong
Under-shown designs: the representations omit a variant, and the unprotected variant is the one that gets copied. Cluttered images: product photographs with backgrounds and props instead of neutral representation sets. Missing variants across a product range: each look needs to be depicted. The look was disclosed first: showing the design at an exhibition or in a catalogue before filing burns the novelty the registration is meant to rest on — file before you exhibit.
Each of these is a preparation problem, which is why the representations get more professional attention than any other part of a design filing.
After registration: use, renew, layer
A registered design is a triage asset: review at each 5-year anniversary whether the product still sells in this look, whether the design is still distinctive in the category, and whether anyone is copying it — and renew or lapse deliberately. Diarise the years 5 and 10 anniversaries on the day of registration; designs are the right most often lost to silence rather than challenge.
Plan the layering, too: the trademark on the product's branding renews forever while the design hits its 15-year ceiling, and a label or trade dress that starts as a registered design can, through years of continuous use, mature into protectable trademark territory. Design and trademark on the same product are a coordinated filing plan, not a choice.
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This article is general information, not legal advice.