The registration of Intellectual Property rights in Nepal is very low. Nepal still follows the IPR law that was enforced in 2022 B.S. and it is not updated. We lack updated policy, laws, regulations and institutions. Nepal has become a member of global institutions like WTO (World Trade Organization) and WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) and has the benefits of using through the resources of WIPO. People are being trained with the help of these organizations but, the problem is of insufficient staff. The skilled staffs are often transferred and this is creating a huge problem. 

 

Many such issues relating to the depressing situation or IPR in Nepal were highlighted in a programme organized recently by Indian Embassy and Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In the event, many experts gave their opinion about the situation of IPR in Nepal and suggested providing measures to overcome this situation. Krishna Gyawali, Secretary at the Ministry of Industry (MoI) pointed out that only a few number of patents have been registered with the Department of Industries under MoI. “Basically we do not have a policy that sufficiently deals with intellectual property except for copyright. For the copyright, we do have a dedicated separate law and we do have a dedicated office-Nepal Copyright Registrar’s Office. But, incidentally the office does not fall within the Ministry of Industry’s domain; it is rather with the Ministry Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. So we do not have separate policy for industrial properties,” he said.

 

The patent and design registration considered vital for invention and ownership of new intellectual property is depressingly low, says Department of Industry. The department’s statistics show that not even a single industry has registered patent and design in the last one year. The patent registration status is weak because of lack of understanding among the developers and designers that they have to protect the ownership issues of design and product, says Ram Sharan Chimoriya, Director of the department. “Patent and Design are taken as valuable assets in the developed nations. But, these have not received importance in Nepal,” he says. This situation is an outcome of the lack of realization that intellectual property is national property, he adds.

 

Nepal’s prevalent Patent, Designs and Trademark Act has not been able to cover the issue of intellectual property, says Sajjan Bar Singh Thapa , an Advocate. “This Act is very old and needs amendment. Moreover, it has not been able to cover the issue of intellectual property protection. The Act gives the Department of Industry quasi-judicial authority, meaning- it may be only department in Nepal where it can revoke its own decision. But unfortunately it’s really sad that till date, the rules to implement the law have not been framed. This Act is incomplete and it does not cover all forms of intellectual property. It only covers patent, design and trademark.”

 

 

Although the department introduced Patent, Design and Trademark Act almost 48 years ago, only 72 patents and only 92 designs have been registered till date. However, the registered patents and designs do not solely belong to Nepali firms. Out of the total registered patents, 36 belong to foreign firms. Among the 92 registered designs, only 22 belong to Nepali firms. 

 

The lack of effective law regarding the registration of patent and design is blamed for the weak situation. Even though the Research and Development Institutions that are in operation design new products, they do not realise registration as important, says Chimoriya. The Department of Industry claims that lack of resources for new invention is also a major reason for the low registration of patents. 

 

Latest Development of IPR in Nepal

 The situation might now change as India has shown interest to help in the protection of Intellectual property in Nepal. Ranjit Rae, Indian Ambassador to Nepal said, in order to strengthen the situation of Nepal’s intellectual property, India will help in providing required training and other facilitating programmes.

 

 In the programme, Rae informed that he would facilitate discussions by bringing in Indian intellectual property experts. Stating that investors are the most concerned people regarding intellectual property, he said, “I have always asked Indian investors to invest in Nepal and the only reason they refrain from it is the lack of guarantee in the protection of intellectual property.”

 

Likewise, Gyawali informed that a separate department is being established for the protection of intellectual property. “As industrial property and copyright are under two different ministries a proposal to bring them together is currently being discussed”. Secretary Gyawali further said, “So far, we have been working on developing SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) to deal with the administration issues of Intellectual Property. We are planning to make a separate department after finalizing the issues with Ministry of Culture that is currently supervising copyright.” 

 

 CA Kauslendra Jha, who has been providing suggestions on the protection of intellectual property in India and Nepal, said it was high time to protect also the geographical indication (GI) of Nepal. According to him, emphasis has to be placed on the production and protection of goods with GI in order to promote them in the international market.