Trademark Registration for Foreign Companies in Nepal: The Complete Route
Trademark registration for foreign companies in Nepal — the mandatory local agent, the legalised POA, home-registration documents, fees and the 7-year term.
A foreign brand entering Nepal — a franchise, an importer, a regional HQ — asks the same first question: is our trademark from home good here? It is not. Nepal is outside the Madrid System, and no foreign registration has automatic effect; protection exists only through a national filing at the Department of Industry.
The route is well-trodden and predictable. This guide sets out what a foreign company actually needs: the documents, the agent, the fees, the timeline, and the obligations that start when the certificate issues.
In short
Trademark registration for foreign companies in Nepal runs through a national filing at the Department of Industry: a Schedule 1(c) application per class, filed by a mandatory local agent under a notarised and consularly legalised Power of Attorney, with a certified copy of the home or base registration. Paris Convention priority can be claimed within 6 months of the home filing. Official fees follow the Schedule 3 logic per class, with applicant-type differences confirmed at the Department. An unopposed application commonly registers in six to twelve months, giving a 7-year term renewable indefinitely — with renewals, recordals and enforcement all running through the agent of record.
Trademark registration for foreign companies in Nepal: the national route
Nepal is a party to neither the Madrid Agreement nor the Madrid Protocol: an international registration designating Nepal protects nothing here. WTO membership and the Paris Convention supply national treatment and the priority right — but the right itself must be created by a Nepalese filing.
The structural rule foreign applicants internalise first: Nepal is first-to-file, and local squatters file early precisely because global brands delay. Filing at market entry — before the distributor agreement, before the signage, before the first consignment — is the entire defensive strategy in one decision.
The local agent and the legalised Power of Attorney
Foreign applicants file through a local (Nepali) authorised agent — mandatory, not a preference. The agent signs, files, pays fees in NPR, receives Department correspondence and runs the follow-through. The instrument that empowers all of this is the Power of Attorney, and it is the document foreign filers most often get wrong.
Nepal is outside the Apostille Convention, so the POA must travel the full chain: notarisation in the origin country, authentication by that country's foreign ministry, and legalisation at a Nepalese embassy or consulate with jurisdiction. Budget two to six weeks, confirm the chain with the agent before notarising, and keep the names identical to the application papers.
| Document | Details | Formality |
|---|---|---|
| Power of Attorney | To the Nepali agent; scope covering filing and beyond | Notarised + consular legalisation |
| Home / base registration | Certified copy of the home-country certificate | English translation where needed |
| Priority documents | If claiming the 6-month Paris priority | Certified copies from the home office |
| Application | Schedule 1(c), one class per filing | Filed in Nepali by the agent |
Classes, fees and the journey
Nepal files one class per application under Section 18A: each Nice class is a separate Schedule 1(c) filing with its own fee, examination, publication and renewal. Official fees are charged per application per class under Schedule 3, with rates differing by applicant type — the Department confirms the applicable rate at payment, and current-practice figures should be verified before budgeting. The registration fee falls due after acceptance, before the certificate.
The journey is familiar: formality check, substantive examination against Section 18's refusal grounds, publication in the Industrial Property Bulletin, a roughly 90-day opposition window, then registration. An unopposed application commonly completes in six to twelve months; objections or oppositions extend it.
Priority: the one international lever
A Nepalese filing made within 6 months of the first trademark filing in another Paris Convention country can claim the earlier date as its priority date. In a first-to-file system, that date is usually the whole argument when two similar applications meet — it is how a global rollout sequences Nepal without losing position.
The claim is procedural and dated: the priority documents and the home filing details travel with the application. Miss the six months and the Nepalese filing still works — it simply starts later, and a squatter who filed in the gap is now the earlier right.
After registration: the obligations that travel with the mark
The 7-year term from registration renews indefinitely — renewal within 35 days of expiry at the per-class fee, a 6-month grace period with the NPR 1,000 fine, automatic cancellation beyond. Renewals, record changes (NPR 1,000 per mark) and assignment or licence recordals (NPR 2,000) all route through the agent of record, which is why the standing POA and the agent relationship are portfolio infrastructure, not paperwork.
Two further disciplines: keep dated evidence of use in Nepal — a mark unused within one year of registration invites a use inquiry — and maintain a watch over the Bulletin, because later conflicting applications publish and proceed unless opposed inside the window.
- Diarise the 7-year renewal in BS and AD, per class, per mark
- Keep the use file — invoices, packaging, campaigns in Nepal
- Watch the Bulletin — the opposition window is the cheap defence
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This article is general information, not legal advice.