Company Name vs Trademark in Nepal: What Is the Difference?

Company Name vs Trademark in Nepal: What Is the Difference?

A company name and a trademark are two different legal registrations in Nepal, run by two different government offices under two different laws — and registering one does not protect the other. A company name is approved by the Office of the Company Registrar (OCR) under the Companies Act, 2063 (2006) and identifies your business as a legal entity. A trademark is registered with the Department of Industry (DOI) under the Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act, 2022 (1965) and protects the name, logo or other sign you use on your goods or services. Under Section 16 of that Act, title to a trademark is acquired only by registration with DOI so incorporating "Himal Foods Pvt. Ltd." at OCR gives you the company, but no trademark rights in "HIMAL FOODS" as a brand.

Company Name vs Trademark in Nepal: Quick Answers

What Registering a Company Name Actually Does

When you register a company in Nepal, the name goes through a reservation and approval process at OCR, today handled online through the CAMIS portal. Under Section 6 of the Companies Act, 2063, OCR may refuse to register a company if:

• the proposed name matches, or so resembles as to create confusion, the name or trademark of an existing registered company (Section 6(1)(a));

• the name or objective is contrary to prevailing law, public interest, morality or decency; or

• the name is identical to that of a company whose registration was cancelled or which became insolvent, where five years have not yet elapsed.

A translation note matters here. The Nepali original of Section 6(1)(a) expressly covers the "नाम वा ट्रेडमार्क" the name or trademark — of an existing company, but the widely circulated English translation of the Companies Act (including the Nepal Law Commission text distributed through ILO Natlex) renders the ground as company names only and drops the trademark reference. This article follows the Nepali original; if you are relying on the English translation, be aware it understates the refusal ground.

OCR's directives add practical detail: the name is submitted in Nepali and English, the examination compares it against existing company names (including close spelling and sound-alike variations) and, under Section 6(1)(a) as written in Nepali, trademarks of existing registered companies, and an approved name is reserved for a limited window in which the incorporation file must be completed current CAMIS practice is reported as 35 days, although some older guides quote longer periods, so confirm the live window on the portal when you file.

Two consequences matter for this comparison:

1. The check is a name-approval screen, not a trademark search. On its wording, Section 6(1)(a) reaches the name and trademarks of existing registered companies — not the whole trademark register. It does not search marks owned by individuals, firms or foreign owners, does not run class-by-class across all 45 classes, and does not track pending applications or unregistered marks. OCR approval is therefore no substitute for a proper DOI trademark search before you treat a name as clear.

2. The result is an identity, not a brand right. The company name identifies the legal person — on the registration certificate, tax records, bank accounts and contracts. It does not, by itself, give you any enforceable right over how that name (or a similar one) is used on goods or services in the market.

What Registering a Trademark Actually Does

A trademark, under Section 2(c) of the Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act, 2022 (1965), is a word, symbol, picture or combination of them used to distinguish one business's goods or services from another's. Registration happens at DOI's Industrial Property Section, per class under the Nice Classification, with a separate application per class.

Registration changes your legal position in ways a company name never does:

• Title by registration. Section 16(1): a person acquires title to a trademark upon registration at DOI. Using a name for years without registering it does not create the same enforceable title in Nepal.

• A statutory monopoly over the mark. Section 16(2): no one may copy, use or cause to be used a trademark registered in another person's name without a transfer of ownership or the owner's written permission.

• Enforcement with teeth. Infringement exposes the infringer to a fine of up to NPR 100,000 and confiscation of the infringing goods under Section 19, and compensation for losses under Section 25, with Department decisions appealable within 35 days under Section 27.

• A time-limited but renewable asset. Section 18D: seven years from registration, renewable repeatedly for further seven-year periods.

The full procedure — search, classes, specimens, publication in the Industrial Property Bulletin, fees — is covered in our trademark registration guide. The short version for this comparison: the trademark is what protects the brand; the company name is what registers the entity.

OCR vs DOI: The Two Systems Side by Side

One honest nuance on the OCR side: the refusal ground in Section 6(1)(a) is real, but it is still a name-approval screen at the company-registration stage — worded against the names and trademarks of existing registered companies, examined once, at OCR. It is not a class-by-class search of DOI's whole register, it does not cover marks owned by individuals, firms or foreign owners, and it does not follow pending applications or later publications. Nor does it work in reverse: DOI's trademark examination says nothing about whether the name is free at OCR. The structural point stands OCR approval does not create trademark rights and does not replace a DOI trademark search or registration, and a DOI registration does not reserve the name at OCR. Rely on each office's own process, or on a proper pre-filing search, for its own register.

What If the Same Name Exists in Both Systems?

This is where the difference stops being abstract. Four situations come up constantly in practice:

1. Your company name is someone else's registered trademark. You propose "Everest Herbal Products Pvt. Ltd." Suppose OCR lets it through — do not read that as clearance. If another business owns the registered trademark EVEREST for herbal products, your use of the name as a brand on your products can infringe Section 16(2): DOI can impose a fine of up to NPR 100,000 and confiscate the goods under Section 19, and the owner can claim compensation under Section 25. Your certificate of incorporation is no defence; it was never a clearance. (And if the EVEREST owner is itself a registered company, Section 6(1)(a) gives OCR its own ground to refuse the name in the first place — one more reason to search DOI's register before reserving the company name, not after.)

2. Your registered trademark appears in someone else's company name. You own the HIMAL registration for tea. A promoter proposes "Himal Tea Traders Pvt. Ltd." at OCR. On the Nepali text of Section 6(1)(a), OCR has a ground to refuse that name as confusingly resembling your trademark — but do not count on refusal: OCR's screen is not a full trademark search, the examination is a one-off name check, and a promoter can adjust the name and apply again. Conversely, do not assume approval legitimises anything. If a company under that name puts "Himal Tea" on its packaging, that is use of your registered mark on your registered goods, and your enforcement remedies under Sections 16(2), 19 and 25 are intact. The company registration does not dilute your trademark rights — and your trademark does not automatically cancel their company, either. The two systems simply police different things.

3. You want to rebrand by changing the company name. A name change needs a special resolution and prior OCR approval under the Companies Act framework, and the new name must pass the same conflict checks as an original registration. If the rebrand is really about the market-facing brand, time the trademark side with it: search the new name at DOI in both Roman and Devanagari script, in your class and adjacent ones, before the resolution is passed — not after the new signboards are printed. Our guide to trademark search in Nepal sets out the method.

4. You trade under a brand that is not your company name at all. This is common and entirely lawful — "Kathmandu Valley Logistics Pvt. Ltd." operating the "SwiftRoute" delivery brand. The name that faces customers is the one exposed in the market, and it is the one that needs trademark protection. Which form of mark to file — the word, the logo, or both — is covered in our comparison of word marks and logo trademarks.

Planning a company registration or rebrand and want the brand side checked before you commit? Company Darta Nepal handles both sides of this table — company registration and name approval at OCR, and trademark search, class selection and filing at DOI — so the entity name and the brand are cleared together rather than discovered in conflict later. See our Trademark & IP Protection services.

When You Need Both and in What Order

For almost any business that invests in a name, packaging, signage, advertising, a growing customer base — the answer is both:

• The company registration gives you the legal entity: contracts, banking, limited liability, and the right to use the corporate name as your identity. It is also, in practice, a near-prerequisite for the trademark file, DOI's current domestic checklist asks for a copy of the industry or business operating permission or registration certificate.

• The trademark registration protects the brand itself: the asset competitors would actually copy, and the right you would actually enforce. Brand value lives here, not in the company register.

The sensible sequence before any significant branding spend:

1. Reserve the company name at OCR and confirm it clears Section 6.

2. Run a trademark search on the brand name, both scripts, your class and adjacent classes, against the Bulletin and DOI's records — before designing around a name that may be blocked or contested. (Method: our trademark search guide.)

3. Decide the mark form, word mark, logo, or both, in which scripts, based on how the brand will actually appear in the market.

4. Then commit to the logo design, packaging and launch spend.

If the brand will outlive the current entity, franchises, planned investment, future group structures, also decide early whether the trademark should sit with the company or with another entity, since aligning ownership later means a formal recordal at DOI. Our trademark registration guide covers the ownership question in the filing section.

Common Mistakes

• Assuming "Pvt. Ltd." registration protects the brand. It registers the entity. Only DOI registration creates trademark title (Section 16).

• Treating OCR approval as brand clearance. Section 6 lets OCR refuse a name that conflicts with a trademark of an existing registered company — but that is a one-off name-approval screen, not a trademark search across all classes, all proprietors and pending applications. A clean OCR file tells you nothing reliable about DOI's register — search the trademark separately.

• Assuming a trademark search clears a company name. The same logic in reverse: DOI's examination does not reserve the name at OCR, and Section 6 is worded against existing registered companies, not every possible business name. Check both before a launch that uses both.

• Investing in branding before either check. Signboards, packaging and ad campaigns built on an uncleared name are sunk cost if a conflict surfaces — search first, spend second.

• Rebranding by company-name change only. Changing the registered name at OCR does not register the new name as a trademark, and leaves the old brand's registration covering a name you may no longer want enforced in the market.

• Forgetting Devanagari. Search your brand in both Roman and Devanagari script, conflicts can cross scripts. If the brand will genuinely appear in both representations, consider separate filings for each, since the scripts can be treated as different marks; a Roman-script registration alone should not be assumed to cover the Nepali version.

Sources

• Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act, 2022 (1965) — Sections 2(c), 16, 18D, 19, 25 and 27 (via WIPO Lex).

• Companies Act, 2063 (2006) — Nepali original — Section 6(1)(क) (name or trademark of an existing registered company).

• Companies Act, 2063 (2006) — English translation — Section 6 (power to refuse registration) (Nepal Law Commission text via ILO Natlex; note the English translation omits the trademark reference in Section 6(1)(a)).

• OCR online registration user manual — CAMIS name reservation process.

• DOI Citizen Charter — current trademark filing and registration fees.

• DOI Industrial Property Section — trademark filing requirements and checklists.

Company names and trademarks answer different legal questions, and the businesses that clear both registers before launching are the ones that never have to choose between them. Company Darta Nepal handles company registration and Trademark & IP Protection as one workflow — name reservation at OCR, trademark search and filing at DOI, and the follow-through on both. Not sure which registrations your business actually needs? Contact us for a straight answer.