Design Renewal in Nepal: Term Limits and Renewal Windows

The lifecycle: 5 + 5 + 5, and not a day more

Registration gives 5 years from the registration date. The first renewal (Schedule 2(e)) extends to year 10; the second to year 15. At year 15 the design is public domain — anyone may use the look, and no filing can bring the protection back.

The cap is not a technicality; it is the design right's design. Appearance-based protection is intended to be temporary — long enough to reward the maker, short enough that product looks eventually circulate freely. Businesses plan around it rather than fight it.

The windows and the late fine

Each renewal is due within 35 days of the term expiring, with a six-month grace period carrying the NPR 1,000 fine. Miss both windows and the registration is cancelled automatically — and unlike patents, a cancelled design can sometimes be refiled if the look is still new to the register and genuinely yours, but that is a loophole, not a plan.

The renewal paperwork is light: Schedule 2(e), the registration certificate, proprietor documents and a POA where an agent files. The discipline, as always, is the calendar — design anniversaries at years 5 and 10 should be diarised on the day of registration.

• 35-day window at the normal fee, then a 6-month grace with NPR 1,000 fine
• Documents: Schedule 2(e), certificate, proprietor papers, POA if via agent
• After grace lapses: automatic cancellation

Deciding which designs earn their renewals

Because the ceiling is absolute, design renewal is a portfolio triage question. A product look still shipping in volume at year 5 justifies the first renewal. The second is a sharper call — ten years is a long life for product styling, and NPR 2,000/year is cheap only if the look still sells.

The disciplined review runs at each anniversary: is the product still on the market in this look? Is the design still distinctive in the category, or has the market moved? Is anyone copying it — evidence the right is earning its keep? A no to all three is a deliberate, documented lapse; a yes justifies the fee without hesitation.

• Review at each anniversary: still selling, still distinctive, still copied?
• Deliberate lapse for retired looks; renew the designs with real remaining life
• Coordinate with the trademark on the same product — the mark may outlive the look

Design + trademark: the layered endgame

Products protected by both a design and a trademark age differently: the design hits its ceiling while the mark renews forever. The classic arc is a label or trade dress that starts as a registered design and, through years of continuous use, becomes protectable as a trademark or well-known mark — brand equity quietly replacing the expiring design right.

Plan that transition deliberately: keep the trademark filings current on the product's branding elements, and the design's expiry becomes a non-event instead of an exposure.