The
Department of Industry (DoInd) is mulling to extend the trademark registration
deadline allowed to the owner of any trademarks after its expiry.
As
per the Patent, Design and Trademark Act, 1965, every trademark registered at
the DoInd must be renewed in every seven years, and the respective companies or
organizations should renew it within seven months of its expiry.
"The
companies, organizations or individuals have 35 days and additional six months
to renew their trademarks. After that the same trademark is annulled can also
be given to other entities," said Netra Bhattarai, director at the DoInd.
The
cancelled trademark cannot be renewed even by paying penalties.
"Therefore,
we think that the registration deadline should be extended to at least a year
after the expiry of a trademark. This is required so that the concerned
entities get enough time to get their trademarks renewed," said Bhattarai.
The
DoInd was of the view that there should be a mechanism to inform the owners of
the trademarks of the expiry of their intellectual property.
As
the department heavily relies on paperwork, it's exhaustive to find an email or
address of the trademark owner and inform them accordingly.
Bhattarai
stated that computer software could be a solution to it.
The
total number of registered trademarks in the country has reached 36,906 by the
end of February this year.
The
data given by the DoInd shows that 11,466 domestic and 26,440 foreign
trademarks were registered in Nepal.
The
number of trademarks registration has increased in the past years.
Approximately
1541 trademarks were registered in Nepal in the Fiscal Year 2013/14. The number
increased by more than 100 and reached 1650 in the FY 2014/15.
"Its
interesting to note that despite the economy was severely hit by the
earthquakes and blockade in 2015/16, more than 929 new trademarks were
registered in the first eight months of this fiscal," informed Bhattarai.
He
said that in the recent years people had started to treat trademarks as an essential
intellectual property.
However,
registration of patent and design has not gained momentum yet.
About
74 patent and 114 designed have been registered at the DoInd so far.
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