Most systems advertise an application before registration and give the public a window to oppose. Nepal’s Act does something different: the Department publishes trademarks it has registered, together with particulars of their renewal or cancellation, and allows a complaint within 35 days.
That ordering changes what you are doing when you object, and it is the reason a Nepali watch has to be set up differently.
Quick reference
| What is published | Trademarks registered under section 18, designs under section 14, and particulars of renewal or cancellation |
| Who may complain | Anyone who has an objection to the published particulars |
| Window | 35 days from the date of publication |
| What happens next | The Department holds inquiries and takes necessary action |
| Fee | A fee for complaint and objection is prescribed in the Schedule |
| Alternative route | Cancellation under section 18(3), on the refusal grounds |
What section 21A says
21A(1): the Department shall publish the designs registered under section 14 and the trademarks registered under section 18, as well as particulars of their renewal or cancellation, for the information of the public.
21A(2): any one who has any objection to the particulars published under subsection (1) may file a complaint to the Department within a period of 35 days from the date of such publication. The Department shall take necessary actions after holding inquiries into such complaints.
What this means in practice
You are objecting after the fact. The publication is of marks the Department has registered, so a complaint is directed at an entry that already exists rather than at a pending application.
The window is short and runs from publication. Thirty-five days, with no extension provided for in the Act. For a foreign brand owner that means the watch, not the response, is where the protection sits.
The procedure is inquisitorial rather than adversarial. The Act gives the Department a duty to hold inquiries and take necessary action. It does not set out a counter-statement, an evidence timetable, a hearing structure or a decision to be appealed in the way the Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Sri Lankan statutes do.
So a Nepali complaint is a submission to the Department supported by evidence, not a pleading in a structured proceeding. It should be prepared accordingly: clear, documented, and complete on filing, because the Act does not promise you a second round.
What grounds to raise
The Act does not list grounds of complaint separately. The natural reference points are the refusal grounds in the proviso to section 18(1), which are also the grounds on which the Department may cancel a registration under section 18(3):
- the mark may hurt the prestige of any individual or institution;
- it may adversely affect public conduct or morality;
- it may undermine the national interest;
- it may undermine the reputation of the trade-mark of any other person; or
- it is already registered in the name of another person.
For a brand owner whose mark has been registered locally by someone else, the fourth and fifth are the operative ones. The fourth is framed around reputation rather than confusion, and on its face it is available to the owner of a reputation rather than only to the owner of a Nepali registration.
See marks that cannot be registered.
The cancellation route runs alongside
The 35 days is a window, not the only route.
Section 18(3) lets the Department cancel a registration where satisfied that any of the proviso circumstances exists, after giving the holder a reasonable opportunity to show cause. The Act sets no time limit on that power, and there is no conclusiveness provision making a registration unchallengeable with age.
Section 18C requires the Department to inquire and cancel where a registered mark has not been brought into use within one year of registration — which is often the most direct answer to a speculative or blocking registration in Nepal, because the period is so short.
So missing the 35 days is not the end of the matter in the way missing an opposition deadline would be elsewhere. It does mean the route changes: from objecting to a publication, to putting material before the Department in support of cancellation.
See trademark cancellation in Nepal.
Watching publications
Because the window is short and the Act provides no extension, the practical protection of a Nepali position is a watch on the Department’s publications.
Three things to watch for:
New registrations resembling your mark, which is the 35-day complaint.
Renewals, which are published under section 21A as well. A renewal tells you a blocking registration has been maintained.
Cancellations, which are also published. A cancellation tells you a category has opened — and, if it is your own mark that has been cancelled, starts the 35-day window for objecting to those published particulars.
For a foreign brand owner
Two provisions give an overseas owner standing in substance even without a Nepali registration.
Section 18(1) proviso — the mark that may undermine the reputation of another person’s trademark is not registrable, and the ground is not expressed to require a Nepali registration.
Section 21C — the Department may register a foreign-registered mark without enquiries on production of the foreign certificate, and shall provide the facility pursuant to the Paris Convention to the registration holder. Nepal has been a Paris Convention member since 2001.
Neither is a substitute for filing, and section 21B is explicit that a foreign registration is not valid in Nepal unless registered there. But they are what you have if someone else got there first. See foreign trademarks in Nepal.
What the Act does not provide
Worth being explicit about, since published material often describes Nepali opposition in terms borrowed from neighbouring systems:
- no pre-registration opposition period in the Act — publication under section 21A is of registered marks;
- no counter-statement or evidence timetable set out in the statute;
- no extension of the 35 days provided for; and
- no appeal structure specified in the Act for the Department’s action on a complaint.
Where the Act is silent, the Department’s own procedure governs, and it is worth confirming current practice at the time rather than relying on secondary descriptions.
Frequently asked questions
How long is the opposition window in Nepal? Thirty-five days from the date of publication, under section 21A(2).
What exactly is published? Trademarks registered under section 18 and designs registered under section 14, together with particulars of their renewal or cancellation.
Who can complain? Anyone with an objection to the published particulars. The Act imposes no standing requirement.
What happens after a complaint is filed? The Department takes necessary action after holding inquiries into the complaint. The Act does not prescribe an adversarial procedure.
What if I miss the 35 days? The registration can still be attacked. The Department may cancel on the refusal grounds under section 18(3), with no time limit, and must cancel under section 18C where the mark was not brought into use within one year of registration.
Do I need a Nepali registration to object? The Act does not require one. The ground concerning undermining the reputation of another person’s trademark is not expressed to depend on a Nepali registration, and section 21C requires the Paris Convention facility to be extended to a foreign registration holder.
Useful official resources
- Department of Industry, Nepal
- Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act, 2022 (1965) — sections 18, 18C, 21A, 21B, 21C
- Nepal Law Commission
See our related notes on marks that cannot be registered, trademark cancellation and foreign trademarks in Nepal.
Watching a Nepali publication with 35 days to act? Talk to us.