Trademark Registration in Nepal for Foreign Companies & Individuals

Foreign companies and foreign individuals can register trademarks in Nepal. A foreign applicant does not need to incorporate a Nepali company or establish a local business presence solely to file a trademark application: what the law demands is an address for service in Nepal, which foreign applicants supply by appointing a local representative under a power of authority. A foreign trademark registration does not itself create rights in Nepal Section 21B of the Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act, 2022 (1965) provides that a mark registered abroad must also be registered in Nepal. In practice, DOI's current foreign checklist asks for a certified copy of the foreign registration certificate (with validity maintained), the power of authority, and a Nepal correspondence address; Paris Convention priority can be claimed when supported by priority documents.

Foreign Trademark Registration in Nepal: Quick Answers

Can Foreigners Register Trademarks in Nepal?

Yes. Section 16(1) of the Act allows any person to acquire title to a trademark upon registration with the Department of Industry, and DOI's Citizen Charter lists a dedicated "विदेशी ट्रेडमार्क दर्ता" (foreign trademark registration) service with its own document checklist. Foreign individuals and foreign companies file under the same route.

Two points frame everything else on this page:

1. Nepal is a national-filing jurisdiction. Nepal is not a member of the Madrid Protocol, so there is no international-registration route that extends automatically into Nepal. A Madrid System registration, an EU trademark or a USPTO registration gives no rights in Nepal by itself.

2. Foreign registration ≠ Nepalese rights. Section 21B is explicit: the title to a trademark registered in a foreign country is not valid in Nepal unless it is registered in Nepal by the concerned person. Section 21C says DOI may register a foreign-registered mark on the strength of the foreign certificate, without the usual enquiries — read that as discretionary authority, not a fast track. In current practice, foreign filings still pass through the same examination, publication and objection stages as domestic ones, and the foreign certificate is in any case what DOI's foreign checklist asks for.

Do You Need a Nepalese Company First?

No. Forming a local subsidiary is sometimes sensible for tax or operational reasons, but it is not a trademark requirement. What the law requires of a foreign applicant is not a local entity but an address for service in Nepal; the prescribed power of authority is the mechanism that supplies it:

• Under Section 20 of the Act, an owner may appoint an attorney or legal practitioner, and actions taken by that attorney are deemed to be the owner's own.

• DOI's Trademark Guideline includes a prescribed power-of-authority form for trademark registration, renewal and recordal matters. It authorizes the attorney to represent the owner in all matters, including the defense of opposition, and designates the attorney's address as the address for service for DOI notices. Where the applicant is a company, the form is signed under the company's seal by a director or authorized official; an individual applicant signs personally. In either case it must be attested by two witnesses and notarized or legalized.

In practice, a foreign applicant without a Nepal address for service will find the process difficult DOI correspondence, publication-stage notices and any complaint proceedings all flow to that address.

Documents Required for Foreign Trademark Registration in Nepal

DOI's current Citizen Charter builds the foreign filing on top of the domestic requirements. Consolidated, the foreign checklist is:

1. Prescribed application form, completed in full;
2. Certified copy of the foreign trademark registration certificate, with its validity maintained (म्याद बहाल);
3. Priority claim letter, where Paris Convention priority is claimed;
4. Power of authority with a correspondence address in Nepal, signed under seal, attested by two witnesses and notarized/legalized;
5. Identity document of the authorized person;
6. Four specimens of the mark (maximum 8 × 8 cm each, showing the business name, address and the goods or services per DOI's checklist);
7. Fee receipt for the application fee.

The pending-home-application problem

There is a genuine tension in the official sources here. DOI's Citizen Charter foreign checklist asks for a foreign registration certificate with validity maintained — which a mark whose home application is still pending cannot supply. DOI's Trademark Guideline, separately, provides a mechanism for claiming priority based on an earlier foreign application under the Paris Convention. A foreign owner whose home-country application has not yet matured should therefore confirm the correct filing basis with DOI or Nepalese IP counsel before assuming the two routes are interchangeable. Do not silently pick one: get the answer in writing where possible.

Class Selection and the Search Before Filing

Foreign applicants follow the same classification system as everyone else: the Nice Classification, with separate applications per class under Section 18A(2). Choosing the class or classes that actually match your Nepalese activity is covered in our guide to trademark classes in Nepal, the short version: file for what you sell or do in Nepal, plus near-term expansion, and remember that, file for the goods or services you actually use or reasonably expect to use in Nepal.

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A pre-filing search matters just as much for foreigners. Nepal has no complete public searchable online register; the practical search runs through DOI's Industrial Property Bulletin archive and the register at DOI, in both Roman and Devanagari script, across your class and adjacent classes. The full method is set out in our guide to trademark search in Nepal.

The Filing Process for Foreign Applicants

The foreign filing follows the same arc as a domestic one summarized here, with the full procedure in our trademark registration guide:

1. Prepare documents, application form, foreign registration certificate copy, POA (notarized/legalized), specimens, identity document.

2. Pay the application fee, NPR 1,000 per class under the current Citizen Charter (foreign filings are charged the same as domestic).

3. File with DOI's Industrial Property Section, Tripureshwor, Kathmandu  normally through the local representative.

4. DOI examination under Section 18, in current practice, foreign filings go through the same investigation and show-cause stages as domestic ones, notwithstanding the discretionary "without enquiries" authority in Section 21C.

5. Publication in the Industrial Property Bulletin, third parties can object; the Act's Section 21A(2) allows complaints about published particulars within 35 days, while DOI's Trademark Guideline provides a 90-day pre-registration opposition period. Bulletin notices have not used one consistent period in practice, so monitor the publication stage rather than assuming a fixed timeline.

6. Registration and certificate, on successful completion, DOI registers the mark (Section 18) and the title is valid for seven years from registration (Section 18D), renewable repeatedly under Section 23B.

7. Renewal, same rules as domestic marks: renewal within 35 days of expiry (NPR 3,500) or in the six-month late window (NPR 4,500), per the current Citizen Charter.

Fees for Foreign Applicants

The current Citizen Charter lists the same government fees for foreign trademark registration as for domestic filings:

Separate applications and therefore separate fees apply per class (Section 18A(2)). Professional fees for the local representative are additional, and foreign applicants should also budget for notarization/legalization of the POA and any document certification. Confirm current fees with DOI at filing.

Want a single point of contact in Nepal? Company Darta Nepal acts as the local representative for foreign brand owners: reviewing documents before they leave your desk, confirming the class strategy, preparing the power-of-authority paperwork for signature, witness attestation and notarization or legalization, filing with DOI and following the application through examination, publication and registration. Approval rests with DOI alone, but nothing is filed with obvious defects. See Trademark & IP Protection services.

Paris Convention Priority

Nepal has been bound by the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property since 22 June 2001. Three practical consequences:

• The priority window is six months. The Paris Convention allows a trademark applicant six months from the first filing in any member country within which to file in other member countries and claim the earlier date. Missing the window does not bar the Nepalese filing, it just forfeits the priority date.

• Priority claims are recognized, with paperwork. DOI's Trademark Guideline (Section 6) provides that an applicant claiming priority under the Paris Convention must make the claim in the relevant part of the application, and that priority documents must be submitted to DOI within the period prescribed by the rules, safest is to submit them with the filing, or promptly after. The Citizen Charter's foreign checklist asks for a priority letter where priority is claimed.

• Priority is a timing tool, not a validity shortcut. A priority claim preserves the earlier filing date; it does not replace the foreign registration certificate that DOI's checklist otherwise expects, and it does not bypass examination or the publication stage.

Common Mistakes Foreign Applicants Make

• Assuming home-country registration is enough. Section 21B says otherwise; the mark must be registered in Nepal to be protected in Nepal.

• Trying the Madrid route. Nepal is not a Madrid Protocol member; national filing at DOI is the only path.

• Filing without a local address for service. DOI notices, including opposition-stage communications, go to the Nepalese address on the POA.

• Skipping the notarization/legalization step on the power of authority. An improperly attested POA stalls the file.

• Mismatching the class strategy between the home registration and the Nepalese filing. The certificate you submit supports the mark; the Nepalese application still needs its own correct class and goods/services description.

• Assuming the fees or the process differ for foreigners. The government fees do not differ; the differences are the foreign certificate, the POA and the priority paperwork.

• Ignoring the publication stage. Objections can arrive after filing; monitoring the Bulletin is part of the representative's job.

Registering a foreign brand in Nepal means one national filing, done properly the first time. Company Darta Nepal's Trademark & IP Protection service covers document review, class selection, power-of-authority preparation, DOI filing and local follow-up for foreign companies and individuals. For the full Nepalese procedure, documents and current fees, start with our trademark registration guide.