Patent Registration in Nepal: Requirements Under the PDTA 1965

What counts as an invention in Nepal

Section 2(a) of the PDTA defines a patentable invention functionally rather than by the patent-law categories familiar from other jurisdictions. An invention is new if it involves a method of process, or method of operation or transmission of a material — or an invention based on a new theory or formula. The definition is therefore weighted toward process and utility inventions; it is the Department's practice, read against those clauses, that determines scope in any given case.

Two practical consequences follow. First, an invention must be described in terms of how it works — the Act is interested in methods and their operation, so a disclosure built entirely around appearance belongs in a design filing instead. Second, because the Act explicitly contemplates inventions based on theories and formulas, fields like food processing, herbal formulations and mechanical adaptations — common inventive activity in Nepal — are squarely within the framework.

Nepal is a WTO member bound by TRIPS, but it is not a member of the Patent Cooperation Treaty. There is no international phase to lean on: protection in Nepal begins with a national application, and novelty is assessed against what is already known — including inventions published anywhere in the world.

• Protectable: new processes, methods of manufacture, operation or transmission, and theory- or formula-based inventions (Section 2(a))
• Not this route: how a product looks — file a design; how a brand is recognised — file a trademark
• No PCT, no regional route: a national filing at the Department of Industry is the only path to a Nepalese patent

The application: what Schedule 1(a) must contain

A complete patent application is filed on Schedule 1(a) and must include the inventor's details — name, address and occupation, which the Act requires — together with a full description of the invention, the process or method by which it is made or carried out, and the theory or formula where the invention rests on one. Maps and drawings are filed where the subject matter needs them, and the application is submitted in the prescribed form with the filing fee.

The description standard is the one that decides outcomes. The Department needs enough detail that the invention can be understood and reproduced by a person working in the field — a description that withholds the operative method risks refusal or, later, a patent vulnerable to challenge. Where the original disclosure is in a foreign language, a Nepali translation should accompany the application.

If the applicant is not the inventor, the basis of the applicant's right must be clear — an assignment or employment arrangement — and the supporting documents travel with the filing. For foreign applicants, a notarised Power of Attorney to the local agent completes the set.

• Schedule 1(a) form with inventor name, address and occupation
• Full description including the process or method — the heart of the disclosure
• Theory or formula where relevant; maps and drawings where needed
• Assignment evidence if the applicant is not the inventor; notarised POA for foreign filers

Examination by technical committee

Nepal's examination stage is distinctive. After formality checks, the Department of Industry constitutes a technical committee — experts drawn from government technical bodies, academia and recognised research institutions such as NAST and RECAST — to examine the application's documents against the disclosure.

The committee's findings are communicated to the applicant, who may amend the documents in response; the committee can re-examine the amended documents before a final decision forms. Responding within the stated period matters: a delayed response is one of the quietest ways to lose a year, and a lapsed application generally cannot be revived with novelty intact.

Publication, opposition and grant

Accepted patents are published in the Nepal Gazette (Section 7A) — with exceptions for secret patents and matters running against national interest. Particulars can be inspected, and objections lie within 35 days of publication. An opposition at this stage is fought on the file: prior publication or prior knowledge of the invention is the classic ground.

On a favourable outcome the registration fee is paid, the patent registers for its first 7-year term, and enforcement and licensing all date from registration. Total elapsed time from filing is typically a year or more; amended or technically complex applications run longer.

Fees, term and the 21-year ceiling

Schedule 3 fixes the patent fees: NPR 2,000 at application and NPR 10,000 at registration. Renewals are charged per year within each renewal term — NPR 5,000 per year in the first renewal term and NPR 7,500 per year in the second — with a NPR 1,000 fine for renewing late inside the grace window.

The term is 7 years from registration, renewable at most twice for 7 years each under Section 23B — a hard 21-year maximum. Two deadlines govern each term: renewal is due within 35 days of expiry, and a six-month grace period follows with the fine. Beyond grace, the patent is cancelled automatically — and because novelty is consumed, a lapsed invention generally cannot simply be refiled.

Foreign applicants and priority

Foreign inventors file through a local agent under a notarised Power of Attorney, with translated specifications. The Paris Convention gives a 12-month priority window: a Nepalese application filed within a year of the first filing elsewhere can claim that earlier date — decisive in a system where published prior art anywhere can defeat novelty.

Plan the disclosure before the priority clock starts. Amendments that add new matter during examination cannot cure a specification that was thin on filing day — in patent practice more than anywhere, the first document is the one that counts.