Although Nepal is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, this country hasn’t been able to fix the most basic principle that makes up a strong country – its legal system. The law in Nepal has flaws in nearly each of the major aspects and fields of society, especially Intellectual Property. Accordingly, this country has piled up a considerable number of cases of IP disputes over the year and haven’t taken any worthwhile methods to solve it.
In general, Nepal is famous for its landscape (being one of the best places in the world to enjoy the sight of Mount Everest) and its terrible legal system. The government of Nepal is so obsolete that businesses can’t get anything done with its procedural time.
For most countries, the time to solve a legal case, for example, about Intellectual property, may extend to twice the announced time, but for Nepal, that time can triple, quadruple, etc., or even be incapable to solve.
Probably because of Nepal’s weak enforcement on IP, this country has been the heaven to the unauthorized use of multinational and national brand trademarks.
This problem doesn’t just create issues in Nepal but it can also affect firms outside of Nepal territory, namely international corporations and multinational enterprises.
Nepal’s weak IP system
According to analytics, the disputes regarding IP have increased dramatically from 2003 – the year this country become a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
In the first 3 months of the current fiscal year, which began in mid-July, the Department of Industry received 54 trademark infringement complaints.
This number is actually an improvement compared to the previous statistics of Nepal since the beginning of the 21st century. At one point, the number of IP cases can reach up to 1,200 with some of the cases continuing to go unsettled for more than 15 years.
Expert opinions
Senior Advocate, Sushil Kumar Pant at the law firm Jurist and Company stated about the weak nature of the IP legal system in particular and the legal system of Nepal in general, regarding international treaties that Nepal has joined in: “It clearly shows that our government and lawmakers either do not know the importance of these international treaties or are totally ignoring the significance of the conventions signed by the country.” He also pointed out that the reasons for this are corrupt practices and dishonesty prevailing in the bureaucratic and political levels which hinders the formulation of policies to implement such essential international conventions.
On the other hand, RC Subedi, the founder and managing partner at Apex Law Chamber in Nepal discussed the limited power of Nepal’s legal system from another perspective: “One is that Nepal has an open border with India and China. In addition, the consumption power of the majority of the consumers in Nepal is low. Accordingly, low price goods/services get priority. Thirdly, local entrepreneurs are engaged in short-term money earning and they copy well-known or famous marks to sell their products. Fourth, Weak IP law especially, weak industrial property law also encourages infringing.”
According to Subedi, to solve the problem of Nepal’s legal system, the Government must step up and enact strong IP laws: “There should be a strong enforcement mechanism. An autonomous IP office should be established. There should be coordination between the IP office, customs, and police. So if doing business in Nepal, apply trademark watch, continuous market investigation, a new variant of a trademark should be created, and that the trademark should be registered.”
You can see a list of Nepal IP firms here.