Trademark Classes Explained: Choosing the Right One

Trademark protection in India is class-specific — registering your brand name in Class 25 (clothing) does nothing to stop someone else from using the identical name in Class 42 (software services). Picking the right class, or classes, is as important as the registration itself.

Goods vs Services

Classes 1 through 34 cover physical goods — everything from chemicals (Class 1) to cosmetics (Class 3) to clothing (Class 25) to beverages (Classes 32–33). Classes 35 through 45 cover services — advertising and business (35), finance and insurance (36), education and entertainment (41), IT and scientific services (42), and legal services (45).

Multi-Class Businesses

A business that both manufactures a product and sells it under its own brand — say, a packaged food company that also runs a chain of cafes — genuinely needs registration in more than one class (e.g. Class 29/30 for the food products and Class 43 for restaurant services). Each additional class is filed and examined separately, with its own government fee.

Why Getting This Wrong Is Expensive

Filing in the wrong class doesn't just waste the government fee — it can mean discovering, a year later when a competitor uses your name in your actual line of business, that your registration offers zero protection where you actually needed it. Getting professional input on class selection before filing is far cheaper than re-filing after a rejection or a real infringement dispute.