Copyright registration in Nepal. Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. Nepal is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. In addition, Nepal has made significant progress in poverty reduction bringing the population below the international poverty line. Not only that, Nepal has a booming tourism industry, attracting millions of visitors every year. Accordingly, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to this country is to learn the procedure of copyright registration in Nepal.
Copyright in Nepal
Unlike other intellectual property rights such as trademarks, patents, industrial designs, plant varieties, etc., copyright does not need to be registered for protection but will be automatically protected from the time the works are created.
The creation must be visible in a certain material form, like content, quality, form, medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered.
Accordingly, whether registered or not, the copyright to the work will still be protected. However, the creator should still apply for copyright registration in Nepal early because early registration will give the author/owner of the work many advantages in the event of a dispute.
When unauthorized use of work occurs around the world, the owner of a work who has made a copyright registration in Nepal will not have to waste time and complicate matters with proving himself/herself to be the legitimate owner of the work.
Thereby, in order to avoid passivity, the owner of the work should make a copyright registration in Nepal immediately to protect their rights and interests when there is an infringement.
Copyright registration in Nepal
Nepal is a member country of The Berne Convention for Copyright since 2006.
The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (the Berne Convention) is an international agreement governing copyright. The agreement was first accepted in Berne, Switzerland, in 1886.
As Nepal is a contracting party of the Berne Convention, any work originating in Nepal will be given copyright protection in each of the Berne Convention member countries.
In most countries, copyright protection is automatic as soon as the work existed in material form. However, the copyright registration in Nepal is critical in order for the copyright owner to obtain evidence of copyright.
Evidence of copyright is extremely important even when the works are automatically protected according to copyright law.
When registering, the work will get an application submission date, as well as information about the creation and proof of creative concept and development. This provides unambiguous proof of authorship and ownership that can’t be denied.
Proof of copyright is essential in an age when the publishing, dissemination, and theft of material is extremely easy with the exposure of the Internet.
If copyright registration is not made, copyright owners will lose a big amount of money as well as time needed to resolve issues related to copyright, proving ownership of the original work.
If the copyright owner has already registered for copyright protection to the IP office, they would have a strong legal foundation which would increase their chance of winning against the violating parties.
Documents for copyright registration in Nepal
To obtain copyright registration in Nepal, the author of the work needs to prepare the following documents:
- Declaration of copyright registration in Nepal;
- Two copies of copyrighted work;
- Documents proving the right to apply;
- Written consent of co-authors, if the work has co-authors;
- Written consent of the co-owners, if the copyright is jointly owned;
- Notarized identity card of the author or owner of the work;
- Power of Attorney, if the applicant is an authorized person;
- Notarized copy of the company’s business registration certificate (if the owner is a company).
The copyright law of Nepal
The Copyright law of Nepal governs copyright, the right to control the use and distribution of artistic and creative works in Nepal and also encourages the creation of art and culture by rewarding authors and artists with a set of exclusive rights. It is embodied in the Copyright Act, 2059 (2002), the Copyright Rule, 2061 (2004) and their amendments. Nepal Copyright Registrar’s Office handles copyright registration, recording of copyright transfers and other administrative aspects of copyright law.
The Copyright Act, 2002 (Nepali: प्रतिलिपि अधिकार ऐन, २०५९) was enacted by Parliament of Nepal and came into force on 15 August 2002. It repealed the previous Copyright Act in 1965.
You can see a list of Nepal IP firms here.