Choosing the right trademark class

Indian trademark filings use the Nice Classification — forty-five classes covering every category of goods and services. Filing in the wrong class is the single most common reason for refusal, and the fix is usually a re-filing fee plus several months of lost time.

Start from the market, not the logo

A trademark protects your use of a mark in a specific commercial context. A coffee roaster and a software company can legitimately share a name because they live in different classes — 30 for food goods, 42 for software services. Your class must describe how you use the mark, not what it looks like.

Begin with a list, not a guess

Before you file, write down every way your business will use the mark in the next two years:

• Goods you sell
• Services you provide
• Channels (online, retail, B2B)
• Geographic reach

Map each to a class. If more than one fits, file in each — Indian law lets you file a single application covering multiple classes with a single fee per class.

When in doubt, file broadly

A narrower scope is cheaper but leaves doors open. A broader scope is pricier but forecloses them. For founders without large IP budgets, the pragmatic middle ground is: file in the classes you use today, plus one "defensive" class that covers your obvious next product category.

Watch out for the obvious traps

• Class 35 (Advertising/Business) is often misused. It covers selling services to other businesses, not selling to consumers online.
• Class 42 is for software-as-a-service. Class 9 is for packaged software.
• Food goods are always goods, never services — Class 30/29 never 43.

If you're unsure, a free 15-minute consult with our team is the fastest way to reduce risk before you file.