International Classification of Goods and Services

The indications of goods or services appearing in the class headings are general indications relating to the fields to which, in principle, the goods or services belong. The Alphabetical List should therefore be consulted in order to ascertain the exact classification of each individual product or service.

If a product cannot be classified with the aid of the List of Classes, the Explanatory Notes and the Alphabetical List, the following remarks set forth the criteria to be applied:

A finished product is in principle classified according to its function or purpose. If the function or purpose of a finished product is not mentioned in any class heading, the finished product is classified by analogy with other comparable finished products, indicated in the Alphabetical List. If none is found, other subsidiary criteria, such as that of the material of which the product is made or its mode of operation, are applied.

A finished product which is a multipurpose composite object (e.g., clocks incorporating radios) may be classified in all classes that correspond to any of its functions or intended purposes. However if a good has a primary purpose it should be classified in this class. If those functions or purposes are not mentioned in any class heading, other criteria, indicated under (a), above, are to be applied.

Raw materials, unworked or semi-worked, are in principle classified according to the material of which they consist.

Goods intended to form part of another product are in principle classified in the same class as that product only in cases where the same type of goods cannot normally be used for another purpose. In all other cases, the criterion indicated under (a), above, applies.

When a product, whether finished or not, is classified according to the material of which it is made, and it is made of different materials, the product is in principle classified according to the material which predominates.

Cases adapted to the product they are intended to contain are in principle classified in the same class as the product.

If a service cannot be classified with the aid of the List of Classes, the Explanatory Notes and the Alphabetical List, the following remarks set forth the criteria to be applied:

Services are in principle classified according to the branches of activities specified in the headings of the service classes and in their Explanatory Notes or, if not specified, by analogy with other comparable services indicated in the Alphabetical List.

Rental services are in principle classified in the same classes as the services provided by means of the rented objects (e.g., Rental of telephones, covered by Class 38). Leasing services are analogous to rental services and therefore should be classified in the same way. However, hire- or lease-purchase financing is classified in Class 36 as a financial service.

Services that provide advice, information or consultancy are in principle classified in the same classes as the services that correspond to the subject matter of the advice, information or consultancy, e.g., transportation consultancy (Class 39), business management consultancy (Class 35), financial consultancy (Class 36), beauty consultancy (Class 44). The rendering of the advice, information or consultancy by electronic means (e.g., telephone, computer) does not affect the classification of these services.

The means by which a service is rendered in principle does not have any impact on the classification of the services. For example, financial consultancy is classified in Class 36 whether the services are rendered in person, by telephone, online, or in a virtual environment. However, this remark does not apply if the purpose or result of a service changes due to its means or place of delivery. This is the case, for example, when certain services are rendered in a virtual environment. For instance, transport services belonging to Class 39 involve the moving of goods or people from one physical place to another. However, in a virtual environment, these services do not have the same purpose or result and must be clarified for appropriate classification, e.g., simulated travel services provided in virtual environments for entertainment purposes (Class 41).

Services rendered in the framework of franchising are in principle classified in the same class as the particular services provided by the franchisor (e.g., business advice relating to franchising (Class 35), financing services relating to franchising (Class 36), legal services relating to franchising (Class 45)).