Choosing the right Nice class: common misclassification errors

1. Introduction: The Field You Cannot Fix Afterwards

Of all the decisions on Form TM-A, the choice of class is the one applicants treat most casually and the one that is hardest to undo.

The reason is a short proviso buried in Rule 37 of the Trade Marks Rules, 2017. Section 22 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 read with Rule 37 allows the Registrar to permit correction of errors and amendment of an application — but the proviso bars any amendment that substantially alters the trade mark or substitutes a new specification of goods or services that was not part of the initial filing.

The Delhi High Court reaffirmed exactly this in B.L and Company v. Registrar of Trade Marks (2026), holding that the proviso operates as a strict statutory bar against amendments that substitute or fundamentally change the specification of goods or services beyond what was originally requested — and specifically that applicants cannot use such amendments to retroactively modify their claims in order to defeat valid objections raised under Section 11.

Translate that into practice and the position is stark:

• You can narrow your specification. You cannot broaden it.
• You can delete goods. You cannot substitute different ones.
• If you filed in the wrong class, you generally cannot move the application to the right class. You file afresh — and you lose your original filing date, which is the date from which registration takes effect under Section 23.
• Fees are charged per class under Section 18(2) and are not refunded.

A misclassified application therefore costs the fee, the professional fee, the eighteen months of prosecution time, and — most expensively — the priority date. In a contested market, the priority date is often the whole asset.

This article works through the classification framework as it applies in India, explains what classification does and does not determine, and then examines the specific misclassification errors that recur most often in Indian filings, with the reasoning to avoid each of them.

This is general information on Indian trade mark practice as of 2026, not legal advice. The Nice Classification is revised periodically; verify the current edition and the Registry’s classification tool before filing.

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2. The Legal Framework

2.1 Section 7: Classification Is the Registrar’s Call

Section 7(1) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 requires the Registrar to classify goods and services, as far as may be, in accordance with the International classification of goods and services for the purposes of registration of trade marks.

Section 7(2) provides that any question arising as to the class within which any goods or services falls shall be determined by the Registrar, whose decision shall be final.

That finality is worth pausing on. Classification disputes are not, in the ordinary course, an arguable substantive right — they are an administrative determination reserved to the Registrar. Arguing that your product “should” be in a different class is a losing strategy; the productive approach is to classify correctly at the outset.

Section 8 requires the Registrar to publish an alphabetical index of the classification of goods and services.

2.2 The Nice Classification and the Fourth Schedule

India follows the Nice Classification, reproduced in the Fourth Schedule to the Trade Marks Rules, 2017. It comprises 45 classes:

• Classes 1–34: goods
• Classes 35–45: services

The classification is revised periodically by WIPO. The 13th edition took effect on 1 January 2026, and — as with every revision — it moved certain items between classes. The most-cited example is the shift of sunglasses and contact lenses from Class 9 to Class 10, reflecting a functional rather than a technological grouping. Specifications drafted from an older edition may now be misclassified.

2.3 The Three Layers You Must Read

Most misclassification arises because applicants read only the first of these:

1. The class heading — a short summary of the class. Useful for orientation, useless as a specification.
2. The alphabetical list — the authoritative, item-by-item listing of goods and services and their classes. This is where the answer usually is.
3. The explanatory notes and General Remarks — which state the principles by which anything not in the alphabetical list is classified. This is where the answer is when the alphabetical list is silent.

The Registry’s TM Classification / “Search Goods & Services” tool on ipindia.gov.in maps a plain-language description of a product or service to a class. Use it as the starting point, not the finishing point.

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3. What Classification Does — and Does Not — Determine

A persistent misunderstanding drives a lot of bad strategy, so it is worth stating plainly.

Classification is an administrative device. It exists to organise the Register, to calculate fees, and to make searching feasible. It does not define the scope of your rights.

Two consequences follow, and they pull in opposite directions:

(a) Same class does not mean similar goods. The Supreme Court in Nandhini Deluxe v. Karnataka Co-operative Milk Producers Federation Ltd., (2018) 9 SCC 183, held that goods within the same class are not automatically similar, and that the class heading does not determine the scope of conflict. Class 9 covers software, safety helmets, spectacle cases and fire extinguishers. Two Class 9 marks may be in entirely unrelated trades.

(b) Different class does not mean no conflict. Indian tribunals apply the concept of allied and cognate goods generously, and Section 11(2) extends protection for well-known marks to dissimilar goods and services altogether. A Class 30 packaged-food mark can be raised against your Class 43 restaurant application.

So classification determines where your application sits and what you pay. It does not determine who can object to you or whom you can stop. Filing in an obscure class to dodge a conflict does not work.

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4. The Nice General Remarks: How to Classify Something Not on the List

When the alphabetical list does not contain your product or service, the General Remarks supply the rules. Learning these five minutes’ worth of principles prevents most misclassification.

4.1 For Goods (Classes 1–34)

• Finished products are classified principally by function or purpose. If the function is not mentioned in any class heading, classify by analogy with comparable goods in the alphabetical list, or failing that by the material of which they are made, or by their mode of operation.
• Multifunctional finished products may be classified in all the corresponding classes. A device that is both a clock and a radio can sit in more than one class.
• Raw and semi-finished materials are classified principally by the material they consist of.
• Goods forming part of another product are classified in the same class as that product only where they cannot ordinarily be used for any other purpose. Otherwise they follow their own function.
• Cases and containers adapted to a specific product are generally classified with that product.

4.2 For Services (Classes 35–45)

• Services are classified principally by the branches of activity described in the class headings and explanatory notes.
• Rental services are classified in the same class as the service provided by means of the rented object. Renting telephones follows telecommunication services.
• Advisory, consultancy and information services are classified in the same class as the service that is the subject of the advice. Advice about financial matters goes with financial services, not with a generic “consultancy” class.
• Franchising services are generally classified in the same class as the service provided by the franchisor.

That last principle alone resolves a large number of Indian filing errors, because so many Indian businesses are franchisors.

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5. The Twelve Most Common Misclassification Errors in Indian Filings

5.1 Retail: The Goods Class vs Class 35

This is the single most frequent and most consequential error.

The confusion: a business that sells shoes assumes it needs Class 25. A business that runs a store assumes it needs Class 35. Many businesses need both, and many file only one.

The distinction:

• Class 25 protects the mark applied to the goods themselves — the brand on the shoes you manufacture or have manufactured for you.
• Class 35 covers retail and wholesale services — the bringing together, for the benefit of others, of a variety of goods so that customers can conveniently view and purchase them.

Where it goes wrong:

• A brand owner selling only its own goods files Class 35 alone and finds it has no registration for the mark on the product. If a counterfeiter puts the mark on shoes, the Class 35 registration is a weak basis for an infringement action under Section 29 in respect of the goods.
• A pure retailer or marketplace files only the goods class, when the mark is a shop name and never appears on merchandise.
• The “retail trading” objection. Indian practice scrutinises Class 35 claims where the applicant merely sells its own products rather than providing a retail service for third parties’ goods. A vague Class 35 specification saying “retail trading” invites an objection.

The rule of thumb: if the mark appears on the product, file the goods class. If the mark is the name of the shop, store, website or marketplace, file Class 35. Most consumer brands with their own outlets or D2C websites legitimately need both — and should file the revenue-generating goods class as a standalone application so it is never held up (see the multi-class discussion in section 9).

5.2 Software: Class 9 vs Class 42

The confusion: “we’re a software company, so Class 9.”

The distinction:

• Class 9 covers downloadable and recorded software — the software as a product. Downloadable apps, recorded software, downloadable data.
• Class 42 covers software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), non-downloadable software, cloud computing, software design and development, and hosting.

Where it goes wrong: a pure cloud/SaaS business, whose customers never download anything, files Class 9 only. The registration then covers a product it does not sell. Conversely, a company that distributes a downloadable mobile app files Class 42 only, leaving the app itself unprotected.

The rule of thumb: ask what the customer receives. A file they install → Class 9. Access to a hosted service → Class 42. A mobile app that is downloaded from an app store and then connects to a backend → realistically both.

5.3 Apps, Platforms and Marketplaces: The Multi-Class Reality

Digital businesses rarely sit in one class. A food-delivery platform, for example, may genuinely need:

• Class 9 — the downloadable app
• Class 35 — bringing together restaurants’ offerings; advertising; business services for restaurant partners
• Class 39 — delivery and transport of goods
• Class 42 — the underlying platform, hosting, non-downloadable software
• Class 43 — if it also provides food and drink services

Where it goes wrong: the founder files Class 42 alone because “we’re a tech company,” and later discovers that a competitor’s identical app name in Class 9 or Class 35 cannot be stopped on the basis of a Class 42 registration alone.

The method: map each distinct revenue line and each distinct customer-facing function to its own class, then decide which are core (file separately, immediately) and which are defensive (file later, or group them).

5.4 Restaurants and Cloud Kitchens: Class 43 vs Classes 29/30/32

The distinction:

• Class 43 covers services for providing food and drink — restaurants, cafés, catering, cloud kitchens as a service.
• Classes 29, 30, 32 cover the food and beverage products themselves — Class 29 for meat, fish, dairy and preserved foods; Class 30 for coffee, tea, flour, bread, confectionery, spices and sauces; Class 32 for beers, mineral waters and non-alcoholic beverages.

Where it goes wrong: a restaurant that also sells packaged sauces, spice mixes or bottled beverages under the same brand files only Class 43. The packaged-goods line — often the highest-margin part of the business — is unprotected. This has become acute with cloud kitchens and D2C food brands that begin as a service and expand into packaged goods.

Also note: Class 43 conflicts and Class 30 conflicts are routinely treated as allied and cognate, so a food-goods proprietor may successfully object to your Class 43 filing and vice versa. Search both regardless of where you file.

5.5 Cosmetics vs Medicated Preparations: Class 3 vs Class 5 vs Class 10

The distinction:

• Class 3 — non-medicated cosmetics, soaps, perfumery, hair lotions, dentifrices
• Class 5 — pharmaceutical and medicated preparations, dietetic substances adapted for medical use, sanitary preparations for medical purposes
• Class 10 — medical apparatus and instruments

Where it goes wrong: the Indian personal-care market is full of products marketed with therapeutic claims. An “anti-dandruff” shampoo, an “anti-acne” face wash, an “ayurvedic” pain balm — is it Class 3 or Class 5? The general test is whether the product is medicated and makes therapeutic claims, and how it is regulated (a drug licence or AYUSH licence points strongly to Class 5).

Practical consequence: Class 5 attracts a stricter deceptive-similarity standard, following Cadila Health Care Ltd. v. Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd., (2001) 5 SCC 73, because confusion in medicinal products can be dangerous. A Class 5 filing is harder to clear. That is a reason to classify accurately, not a reason to classify into Class 3 to make life easier.

Hand sanitisers are a live example of the boundary: whether they belong in Class 3 or Class 5 depends on formulation, claims and regulatory status.

5.6 Nutraceuticals and Supplements: Class 5 vs Classes 29/30/32

The confusion: protein powders, health drinks, vitamin gummies, herbal supplements.

• Class 5 — dietary and nutritional supplements, dietetic food and substances adapted for medical use
• Class 29 — protein-based food products, milk products
• Class 30 — cereal-based preparations
• Class 32 — non-alcoholic beverages, energy drinks

A protein supplement sold as a nutritional supplement generally sits in Class 5; the same protein sold as a food product or ready-to-drink beverage may sit in Class 29 or 32. Many Indian nutraceutical brands legitimately need two or three of these.

5.7 Beverages: The 29 / 30 / 32 / 33 Boundaries

A cluster of errors:

• Class 30 — coffee, tea, cocoa, and coffee/tea-based beverages
• Class 29 — milk and milk-based beverages
• Class 32 — beers, mineral and aerated waters, non-alcoholic beverages, fruit juices, energy drinks
• Class 33 — alcoholic beverages except beers

The two most common slips: putting beer in Class 33 (it belongs in Class 32), and putting a milk-based or coffee-based ready-to-drink beverage in Class 32 when its base ingredient places it in Class 29 or 30.

5.8 Apparel: Class 25 vs Class 40 vs Class 35

• Class 25 — clothing, footwear, headgear
• Class 40 — treatment of materials, including custom tailoring, dyeing, printing and embroidery of textiles for others
• Class 35 — retail of clothing

A bespoke tailoring business is providing a Class 40 service. A boutique selling ready-made garments under its own label needs Class 25 and probably Class 35. A print-on-demand business is arguably in all three.

5.9 Education, Training and Coaching: Class 41 vs Class 42 vs Class 44

• Class 41 — education, training, providing of training, entertainment, sporting and cultural activities
• Class 42 — scientific and technological services, software development, design
• Class 44 — medical services, veterinary services, hygienic and beauty care, agriculture

Where it goes wrong: an ed-tech company files Class 42 because it built a platform, and omits Class 41 where the actual educational service sits. Or a wellness brand files Class 41 for “training” when it is providing beauty or health services falling in Class 44.

5.10 Fintech: Class 36 vs Class 9 vs Class 42

• Class 36 — financial, monetary and banking services; insurance
• Class 9 — the downloadable app
• Class 42 — the platform and non-downloadable software

A payments app is not “just Class 36.” A lending platform that provides technology to banks may be primarily Class 42. A neobank offering the financial service itself needs Class 36. Most need at least two.

5.11 Contract Manufacturing: The Forgotten Class 40

Class 40 covers treatment of materials — including manufacturing services performed for others to order and to specification.

India has an enormous contract-manufacturing sector, and a very large proportion of it has never filed in Class 40. A company that manufactures to third-party specification is providing a Class 40 service, and its house mark should be protected there — not only in the goods class of the products it happens to make for clients.

5.12 Classification Drift: Items That Have Moved

Sunglasses and contact lenses moved from Class 9 to Class 10 with the 13th edition of the Nice Classification, effective 1 January 2026. Any eyewear specification drafted from an older list is now potentially misclassified.

More generally: check the current edition every time. Classification changes create a category of applicants whose specification suddenly straddles two classes — precisely the situation in which a misclassification objection arrives.

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6. Structural Drafting Errors (Beyond Class Choice)

Choosing the right class is only half the job. The specification within it causes as many problems.

6.1 Filing Class Headings Verbatim

Copying a class heading — “clothing, footwear, headgear” for a business that sells only t-shirts — looks like maximum protection and is usually a liability:

• It increases Section 11 citation risk across every item covered
• It creates broad Section 47 non-use exposure, because the mark is not used on most of what is claimed
• It undermines a prior-use claim, because Rule 25(1) requires the statement of use to relate to all the goods or services mentioned in the application

6.2 “All Goods Included in Class X”

Not an acceptable specification. It will attract an objection and must be replaced with an enumerated list.

6.3 Cross-Class Terms in One Class

Listing items that belong in different classes within a single class specification produces a classification objection and delays the application. This is common where a specification is copy-pasted from a company brochure rather than drafted from the alphabetical list.

6.4 Copy-Pasting from Another Jurisdiction

US and EU specifications do not transfer cleanly. US practice requires specificity and use-based narrowing; EU practice has its own history with class headings following the IP Translator line of cases. An Indian specification should be drafted from the Indian Fourth Schedule and the Registry’s classification tool.

6.5 Drafting for Ambition Rather Than Trade

Specifications should cover actual trade plus genuinely intended near-term trade. A specification written to cover everything the founder hopes to do in a decade is a standing invitation to opposition and to non-use rectification.

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7. What Happens When You Get It Wrong

The asymmetry is the point: narrowing is available, substituting is not. Where an objection cites conflicting goods, deleting those goods from your specification is a legitimate and commonly used route to overcome the objection — as is dividing a multi-class application so the unobjected classes proceed, or seeking rectification of the cited mark to remove the overlapping goods. Adding or swapping goods is not available.

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8. The Right Process: A Step-by-Step Method

Step 1 — List your actual revenue lines. Not your vision statement. What do customers pay you for, today and in the next 12–24 months?

Step 2 — For each line, ask: is this a good or a service? What does the customer physically or contractually receive?

Step 3 — Run each item through the Registry’s TM Classification tool. Enter plain descriptions, not marketing language.

Step 4 — Verify against the alphabetical list of the current Nice edition. Confirm the item is where the tool says, in the edition currently in force.

Step 5 — Where an item is not listed, apply the General Remarks. Function or purpose for finished goods; material for raw materials; branch of activity for services; the underlying service for rental, advisory and franchising.

Step 6 — Cross-check against competitors. Search the IP India portal for the classes in which established businesses in your exact trade are registered. If every competitor holds Classes 25 and 35 and you planned only Class 25, ask why.

Step 7 — Draft the specification to your actual trade. Enumerate. Avoid class headings. Avoid aspirational breadth.

Step 8 — Run a clearance search in every chosen class and in allied and cognate classes, because conflict is not confined to your own class.

Step 9 — Decide the filing structure. Isolate the revenue-critical class as a standalone application so it is never delayed by a peripheral one; group or defer the rest.

Step 10 — Sanity-check the user date per class. Different classes usually have different launch dates, and Rule 25 requires the claim to hold good for everything in the application.

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9. Multi-Class Strategy and Classification

Because government fees are charged per class under Section 18(2) regardless of whether classes are bundled, the choice between one multi-class application and several single-class applications is a risk decision, not a cost decision.

Classification interacts with it directly. A classification objection in one class of a multi-class application stalls every class in that application. The remedy — dividing the application on Form TM-M — costs a divisional fee and months of processing.

Since classification objections are among the most common examination objections, this is a strong argument for isolating the class the business actually earns from into its own application.

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10. Pre-Filing Classification Checklist

• Revenue lines listed, each mapped to goods or services
• Each item run through the Registry’s TM Classification tool
• Verified against the current Nice edition (13th edition, effective 1 January 2026)
• Unlisted items classified using the General Remarks
• Retail question answered: does the mark appear on the goods, on the shop, or both?
• Software question answered: downloadable (Class 9), hosted (Class 42), or both?
• Franchising, rental and advisory services classified to the underlying service
• Contract manufacturing considered for Class 40
• Competitor registrations checked for classes you may have missed
• Specification enumerated, not copied from the class heading
• No cross-class items within a single class
• No “all goods included in class X”
• Clearance search run in chosen classes and allied/cognate classes
• Filing structure decided; core class isolated
• User date verified separately for each class

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11. Conclusion

Classification looks like the most mechanical part of a trade mark application and is in fact one of the least forgiving. Section 7(2) makes the Registrar’s determination on class final. The proviso to Rule 37 — as the Delhi High Court reaffirmed in B.L and Company v. Registrar of Trade Marks in 2026 — bars any amendment that substitutes a new specification of goods or services that was not part of the original filing. Fees are per class and are not returned. And the remedy for a class error is a fresh application at today’s date, not yesterday’s.

The errors that cause this are, almost without exception, the same handful. Confusing the goods class with Class 35 retail. Filing Class 9 for a hosted service or Class 42 for a downloadable product. Protecting the restaurant and forgetting the packaged sauce. Classifying a medicated preparation as a cosmetic. Putting beer in Class 33. Forgetting Class 40 in a contract-manufacturing business. Copying a class heading instead of drafting a specification. Working from a superseded edition of the Nice list.

Each of them is avoidable in an hour, using tools that cost nothing: the Registry’s classification search, the alphabetical list, the General Remarks, and a look at what your competitors have registered. Spend that hour before you file, because the Rules will not let you spend it afterwards.

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12. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. How many trade mark classes are there in India?

A. Forty-five, under the Nice Classification reproduced in the Fourth Schedule to the Trade Marks Rules, 2017. Classes 1 to 34 cover goods and Classes 35 to 45 cover services. Section 7(1) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 requires the Registrar to classify in accordance with the International classification.

2. Can I change the class after filing my application?

A. Generally no. Section 22 read with Rule 37 permits correction of errors and amendment, but the proviso bars any amendment that substantially alters the mark or substitutes a new specification of goods or services that was not part of the initial filing. The Delhi High Court reaffirmed this in B.L and Company v. Registrar of Trade Marks (2026). A wrong class usually means filing afresh and losing your original filing date.

3. Can I at least narrow my specification?

A. Yes. Narrowing is available and is one of the standard ways to overcome a Section 11 objection — you delete the conflicting goods or services. What you cannot do is add, swap, or substitute items that were not in the original filing.

4. Will I get my fee back if I filed in the wrong class?

A. No. Fees are charged per class under Section 18(2) and are not refunded. The wrong-class application also consumes the professional fee and the prosecution time, and the fresh application starts from a later priority date.

5. Who decides which class my product falls in?

A. The Registrar. Section 7(2) provides that any question as to the class within which any goods or services falls shall be determined by the Registrar, whose decision shall be final. Arguing for a preferred class is rarely productive; classifying accurately at the outset is.

6. Does registering in one class protect me against similar marks in other classes?

A. Not automatically, but the reverse is also true — a different class does not guarantee you are safe. Indian tribunals apply the allied and cognate goods concept generously, and Section 11(2) extends protection for well-known marks to dissimilar goods and services entirely. Filing in an obscure class to dodge a conflict does not work.

7. If two marks are in the same class, are the goods automatically similar?

A. No. The Supreme Court in Nandhini Deluxe v. Karnataka Co-operative Milk Producers Federation Ltd., (2018) 9 SCC 183, held that goods within the same class are not automatically similar and that the class heading does not determine the scope of conflict. Class 9 alone covers software, safety helmets, spectacle cases and fire extinguishers.

8. I sell my own branded products. Do I need Class 35 as well?

A. It depends on where the mark appears. Class 25 (or whichever goods class applies) protects the mark on the product. Class 35 covers retail and wholesale services — bringing together a variety of goods for others to view and purchase. If the mark is also your shop, website or marketplace name, you likely need both. If you only sell your own goods, a vague “retail trading” claim in Class 35 can attract an objection.

9. What is the biggest risk of filing only Class 35?

A. You may have no registration for the mark on the goods. If a counterfeiter applies your mark to physical products, a Class 35 registration is a weak basis for an infringement action under Section 29 in respect of those goods.

10. I run a SaaS business. Class 9 or Class 42?

A. Class 42, if customers never download anything — it covers software as a service, platform as a service, non-downloadable software, cloud computing, hosting, and software design and development. Class 9 covers downloadable and recorded software, i.e. the software as a product. Ask what the customer actually receives.

11. My product is a mobile app. Which class?

A. Realistically both. The downloadable app itself sits in Class 9; the hosted backend, platform and non-downloadable functionality sit in Class 42. Filing only one leaves half the business exposed.

12. What classes does a marketplace or aggregator platform need?

A. Often several: Class 9 for the downloadable app, Class 35 for bringing together third-party offerings and advertising, Class 39 if delivery or transport is provided, Class 42 for the platform itself, and Class 43 if food and drink services are supplied. Map each customer-facing function and revenue line to its own class.

13. I run a restaurant. Is Class 43 enough?

A. Only if you never sell packaged products. Class 43 covers services for providing food and drink. If you also sell bottled sauces, spice mixes or packaged snacks under the same brand, those are Classes 29, 30 or 32. Cloud kitchens and D2C food brands very frequently need both.

14. Is my product a Class 3 cosmetic or a Class 5 medicated preparation?

A. The test is broadly whether the product is medicated and makes therapeutic claims, and how it is regulated — a drug licence or AYUSH licence points strongly to Class 5. Note that Class 5 attracts a stricter deceptive-similarity standard following Cadila Health Care Ltd. v. Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd., (2001) 5 SCC 73, so it is harder to clear. That is a reason to classify accurately, not to classify into Class 3 for convenience.

15. Where do protein powders and supplements go?

A. Dietary and nutritional supplements generally sit in Class 5. The same protein sold as a food product may fall in Class 29, a cereal-based preparation in Class 30, and a ready-to-drink beverage in Class 32. Many Indian nutraceutical brands legitimately need two or three of these.

16. Which class covers beer?

A. Class 32, along with mineral and aerated waters, non-alcoholic beverages, fruit juices and energy drinks. Class 33 covers alcoholic beverages except beers. Putting beer in Class 33 is one of the most common beverage misclassifications.

17. My ready-to-drink coffee is a beverage. Is that Class 32?

A. Not necessarily. Coffee-based beverages generally follow Class 30, and milk-based beverages follow Class 29. The base ingredient often governs rather than the fact that the product is drinkable.

18. I run a bespoke tailoring business. Class 25?

A. No — Class 40, which covers treatment of materials including custom tailoring, dyeing, printing and embroidery performed for others. Class 25 covers the garments themselves. A boutique selling ready-made garments under its own label needs Class 25 and probably Class 35.

19. What is Class 40 and why is it so often missed?

A. It covers treatment of materials, including manufacturing services performed for others to order and specification. India has an enormous contract-manufacturing sector, much of which has never filed in Class 40 — protecting only the goods class of products it makes for clients, and leaving its own house mark as a service provider unprotected.

20. My ed-tech company built a platform. Class 42?

A. Class 42 covers the platform and software. The educational service itself sits in Class 41. Filing Class 42 alone leaves the core offering unprotected. Conversely, a wellness brand offering beauty or health services belongs in Class 44, not Class 41.

21. Which classes does a fintech company need?

A. Usually more than one. Class 36 covers financial, monetary, banking and insurance services; Class 9 covers the downloadable app; Class 42 covers the platform and non-downloadable software. A neobank providing the financial service needs Class 36; a technology provider to banks may be primarily Class 42.

22. How are franchising services classified?

A. Under the Nice General Remarks, franchising services are generally classified in the same class as the service provided by the franchisor. This single principle resolves a large share of Indian filing errors, given how many Indian businesses franchise.

23. How do I classify rental services?

A. In the same class as the service provided by means of the rented object. Renting telephones follows telecommunication services rather than sitting in a generic rental class.

24. Where do advisory and consultancy services go?

A. In the same class as the service that is the subject of the advice. Advice on financial matters goes with financial services in Class 36, not into an undifferentiated “consultancy” claim.

25. My product isn’t in the alphabetical list. How do I classify it?

A. Apply the General Remarks. Finished products are classified principally by function or purpose; if the function is not in any class heading, classify by analogy with comparable goods in the alphabetical list, or by the material, or by the mode of operation. Multifunctional products may be classified in all corresponding classes. Raw and semi-finished materials follow the material they consist of.

26. Should I just file the class heading to get maximum coverage?

A. No — it is usually a liability. It increases Section 11 citation risk across everything covered, creates broad Section 47 non-use exposure, and undermines any prior-use claim because Rule 25(1) requires the statement of use to relate to all the goods or services in the application. Enumerate what you actually sell.

27. Can I write “all goods included in class 25”?

A. No. That is not an acceptable specification and will attract an objection requiring an enumerated list.

28. Can I reuse my US or EU specification in India?

A. Not cleanly. US practice requires specificity and use-based narrowing, and EU practice has its own history with class headings. An Indian specification should be drafted from the Indian Fourth Schedule and verified against the Registry’s classification tool.

29. Did any classes change recently?

A. Yes. The 13th edition of the Nice Classification took effect on 1 January 2026, and among other changes moved sunglasses and contact lenses from Class 9 to Class 10. Any eyewear specification drafted from an older list is now potentially misclassified. Check the current edition before every filing.

30. How do I find out which class my product belongs to?

A. Use the TM Classification / “Search Goods & Services” tool on ipindia.gov.in, entering plain descriptions rather than marketing language. Then verify against the alphabetical list of the current Nice edition, and cross-check the classes in which established competitors in your exact trade are registered.

31. Does a classification objection affect my whole multi-class application?

A. Yes. A classification objection in one class of a multi-class application stalls every class in it. The remedy is to divide the application on Form TM-M, which costs a divisional fee and months of processing. Since classification objections are among the most common examination objections, this is a strong argument for filing your revenue-critical class as a standalone application.

32. What is the single best habit to avoid misclassification?

A. Start from revenue lines, not from the brand. For each thing a customer actually pays you for, ask whether they receive a good or a service, run it through the Registry’s classification tool, and verify against the current alphabetical list. Then check what your competitors have registered — if every competitor in your trade holds two classes and you planned one, find out why before you file.