Trademark classes
A trademark protects your name only for the goods and services you registered it for. Those are grouped into 45 categories under the Nice Classification: classes 1 to 34 cover goods, classes 35 to 45 cover services. Choosing the wrong ones leaves gaps a competitor can walk through.
Why the class matters more than the name
Two businesses can own the same trademark in different classes, legitimately, at the same time. There is a Polo car, a Polo mint and a Polo shirt.
So the question a trademark office asks is never "is this name taken?" It is "is this name taken for these goods?" Your registration is only as broad as your class list.
The classes people usually need
| Class | Covers |
|---|---|
| 9 | Software, apps, downloadable content, electronics |
| 25 | Clothing, footwear, headgear |
| 35 | Advertising, business management, retail and online retail services |
| 41 | Education, training, entertainment, publishing |
| 42 | Software as a service, IT services, design, scientific services |
| 43 | Restaurants, cafes, hotels, catering |
| 44 | Medical, beauty and wellness services |
| 45 | Legal services, security services |
A software company usually needs 9 and 42. A clothing brand that also sells online usually needs 25 and 35. A restaurant group usually needs 43, plus 30 or 32 if it sells packaged food or drink.
How many should you file for?
Only the ones you use or genuinely intend to use.
Filing extra classes is tempting because it feels like more protection. It is not free: each class from the third costs €150 at EUIPO plus our fee. More importantly, an EU trademark becomes vulnerable to cancellation for non-use five years after registration, and a mark padded with classes you never traded in can be stripped back to what you actually sell.
Two or three well-chosen classes usually beat six speculative ones.
The specification matters as much as the class
Within each class you list the specific goods or services. "Clothing" in class 25 is broad. "Sports socks" is narrow. Broad terms give wider protection but attract more objections and more non-use risk.
EUIPO maintains a harmonised database of accepted terms. Using terms from it makes examination faster and reduces the chance of an objection. Drafting the specification is the part of a filing where experience shows.
What we do
We advise on which classes you need for what you actually sell, and draft the specification. That is included in the EU filing fee of €1,530 and the UK filing fee of €715.