Why Madrid Protocol Registrations Do Not Cover Nepal

The gap, precisely

The Madrid System — the Madrid Agreement and the Madrid Protocol, administered by WIPO — lets an owner of a home-country registration file one international registration and extend it to member countries by designation. Nepal has joined neither treaty. An international registration that designates Nepal simply does not designate anything: the country is not reachable through the system.

The practical consequence is asymmetric and worth stating plainly: your Madrid registration is not invalid — it is merely silent about Nepal. If your global portfolio protects the brand in 90 Madrid countries, Nepal is the 91st, obtainable only by the door every Madrid member used before Madrid: direct national filing.

• Nepal is a party to neither the Madrid Agreement nor the Protocol
• International registrations have no effect in Nepal
• The brand is not unprotected — the filing route changes, not the availability

What the national route requires

The Nepal filing is straightforward by international standards, with a few local specifics. Applications are filed at the Department of Industry on Schedule 1(c), one class per application, in the name of the foreign owner. The document set: the application, notarised Power of Attorney to the local agent, and a certified copy of the home (or base) registration with an English translation where needed. Paris Convention priority can be claimed within 6 months of the home filing.

What the local agent adds is not formality but function: in-person filing, fee payment in local currency, correspondence handling, and — critically in a first-to-file system — a watch and renewal infrastructure for a register your global docketing system does not cover.

• Schedule 1(c), one class per application, direct at the DOI
• Documents: notarised POA + certified home registration (English)
• Paris priority: 6 months from the home filing

Adapting the global portfolio to the gap

Mature global filers treat Nepal (and the other non-Madrid markets) as a standing direct-filing line item with its own rhythms. The adaptations that matter: file early and independently — Nepal's first-to-file rule means local squatters do not wait for your Madrid schedule; budget separately — agent fees per class, notarisation and translation costs sit outside WIPO's fee schedule; docket separately — the 7-year renewable term and 35-day renewal window live outside your Madrid renewal cycle; and keep the documents current — a POA and corporate papers refresh process for Nepal avoids the renewal-year scramble.

The one lever Madrid filers keep: priority. A Nepalese filing within 6 months of the Madrid base registration's home filing claims the earlier date — which is how brands with fresh home filings effectively sequence Nepal into their global rollout without losing date priority.

• Nepal = a direct-country filing line, owned and docketed separately
• File early: first-to-file does not wait for Madrid schedules
• Priority bridges the gap: 6 months from the home filing

Could Nepal join Madrid?

Joining Madrid requires the domestic statute and administration to support it — international registrations feeding into national examination, and national procedures compatible with WIPO's operational framework. Nepal's 1965 statute is not built for that interface; the draft Industrial Property Bill, which modernises the whole framework, is the kind of legislative vehicle that typically precedes a Madrid accession decision. Until accession happens — and no date has been announced — plan on the national route remaining the only door.