Kathmandu: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Badri Prasad Pandey, has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to enacting laws aimed at protecting intellectual property in Nepal. Speaking at an interaction on ‘Status, Challenges, and Opportunities of Intellectual Property Rights’ held at Singha Durbar Friday, Minister Pandey stated that the government was working to replace outdated laws with new ones that reflect present-day realities. He emphasized that Nepal’s traditional culinary knowledge and indigenous products such as Ilam tea, Bhaktapur’s Juju Dhau (yogurt), Marsi rice of Jumla, and the beans of Humla are vital elements of national identity and must be recognized and protected as intellectual property.
According to National News Agency Nepal, Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Krishna Bahadur Raut, announced that a new Industrial Property Bill had already been registered in Parliament to replace the decades-old Patent, Design and Trademark Act, 2022 BS. He informed the participants that to date, only 89 patents and 64,000 trademarks have been registered in Nepal.
Other speakers at the event included Hari Prasad Mainali, Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation; Suresh Adhikari, Chairperson of the Music Royalty Collection Nepal; and Devendra Lamichhane, Director General of the Nepal Chamber of Commerce. They highlighted the urgent need to strengthen patent protection and intellectual property rights, warning that the misuse of intellectual property constitutes a violation of human rights.
Chairperson of the Intellectual Property Protection Society, Bisu Kumar KC, pointed out widespread confusion surrounding IP protection in Nepal, noting that many people were unaware of how to register a patent.
On the occasion, a journal dedicated to intellectual property issues was also launched.