IP Laws in Nepal: The Acts That Govern Each Right — and the Bill That Would Replace Them
A plain list of IP laws in Nepal: the PDTA 1965, the Copyright Act 2002 and FITTA 2019 — plus what the proposed Industrial Property Bill would change.
Ask which law governs intellectual property in Nepal and you will get one confident answer — the wrong one. There is no single IP act: trademarks, patents and designs share one statute, copyright lives in another, and foreign licensing adds a third layer entirely.
This guide is the plain list: what each instrument governs, who administers it, and what the Bill moving through Parliament would consolidate.
In short
The core IP laws in Nepal are the Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act, 2022 BS (1965) — the PDTA, governing trademarks, patents and industrial designs at the Department of Industry — and the Copyright Act, 2059 BS (2002), which protects works automatically and offers voluntary registration. FITTA 2019 frames technology licensing in foreign-investment deals. Nepal is party to the Paris Convention, the PCT, the Berne Convention and WTO/TRIPS, but not the Madrid Protocol or the Apostille Convention. The Industrial Property Bill 2082 — proposed, not yet law — would repeal the PDTA and consolidate the whole system into one TRIPS-aligned statute.
The core IP laws in Nepal today
Until the Bill is enacted and authenticated, the 1965 Act and the 2002 Act govern everything: 7-year trademark terms, 90-day opposition windows, current fee schedules. Every deadline published on this site assumes exactly that.
| Instrument | What it governs | Administered by |
|---|---|---|
| Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act, 2022 BS (1965) — the PDTA | Trademarks, patents and industrial designs: registration, refusal grounds, terms, renewals, recordals | Department of Industry (DOI), Industrial Property Section, Kathmandu |
| Copyright Act, 2059 BS (2002) | Automatic copyright from creation; moral rights; voluntary registration as ownership evidence | The Copyright Registrar's Office |
| Industrial Property Bill, 2082 BS (proposed) | Would consolidate patents, designs, trademarks, GIs, trade secrets, layout designs, traditional knowledge and genetic resources into one statute | Not yet law — registered in the House of Representatives |
| FITTA, 2019 | Foreign investment and technology transfer: protection for licensed technology and royalty repatriation | The foreign-investment framework |
The PDTA's internal map — the sections that do the work
The PDTA is old but heavily structured, and a handful of provisions decide most practical questions. Section 18 sets the refusal grounds, with Section 18(1) — identical or deceptively similar to an earlier mark — the dominant one. Section 18A imposes class-by-class filing under the Nice Classification. Section 22 keeps the register; Section 23B sets the terms (7-year trademarks, renewable indefinitely; 7+7+7 patents; 5+5+5 designs); Section 18C creates the non-use vulnerability for marks unused within a year of registration.
The schedules carry the machinery: Schedule 1 holds the application forms (1(a) patents, 1(b) designs, 1(c) trademarks), Schedule 2 the post-registration formats, and Schedule 3 the fee structure.
The treaties that shape the domestic laws
The two non-memberships cause more practical confusion than any membership. Foreign brands must file nationally in Nepal through a local agent; Nepali brands abroad must do the same in reverse. And apostilles do not work here — documents travel the longer consular chain.
- Paris Convention: priority claims — 12 months for patents, 6 months for trademarks and designs
- PCT: the international patent-filing system Nepal's inventors can use abroad
- Berne Convention: the automatic-protection principle behind the Copyright Act
- WTO/TRIPS (member since 2004): the compliance ceiling the proposed Bill is built toward
- Not a member: the Madrid Protocol (no international trademark route in or out) and the Apostille Convention (consular legalisation required for foreign documents)
What the proposed Industrial Property Bill would change
The Bill registered in the House of Representatives would repeal the PDTA and replace it with a consolidated, TRIPS-aligned statute. Its headline proposals: a 10-year trademark term (up from 7), a single industrial property registrar, statutory GI registration, trade-secret protection, utility models, layout designs, and modernised e-filing.
Every one of those is a proposal until enactment. The planning rule stays constant: current law, current deadlines, current fees — with the Bill's final text watched for the transition mechanics that will matter to existing registrations.
Which law applies to your problem
Most real disputes involve two of these at once — a copied package implicates the mark, the label design and sometimes the artwork. The list is the starting map, not the whole territory.
- Someone copies your brand name: PDTA — trademark registration, opposition and infringement machinery
- Someone copies your content, code or music: Copyright Act 2059 — automatic protection, enforcement through the copyright channels
- You invented a process or machine: PDTA — the patent provisions and DOI examination
- Your product's look gets copied: PDTA — the industrial design sections (12–15)
- Royalties flow to or from a foreign licensor: FITTA 2019 and the central-bank approvals behind royalty repatriation
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This article is general information, not legal advice.