New Nice Classification of Goods and Services regarding international trade mark registration

2 January 2017

The Nice Classification is a system used to classify goods and services for international trade mark registration. Under the Nice Classification, related goods and services are grouped together under various categories or classes, each with their own unique heading.

The Nice Classification (NCL), established by the Nice Agreement (1957), is an international classification of goods and services applied for the registration of international trade marks. The 2016 version of the tenth edition of the NCL came into force on January 1, 2016. The classification system is specified by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

The 11th edition of the Nice Classification will enter into force on 1 January 2017, this will bring important additions and amendments to the classification of goods and services for the purposes of the registration of trade marks. The latest edition of the International Classification of Goods and Services for the purposes of the registration of trade marks (Nice Classification) will enter into force on January 1, 2017, bringing with it a number of significant additions and amendments.

Starting in the New Year, trademark owners will benefit from amendments to fifteen class headings and the addition of 334 new terms, as determined by the Committee of Experts of the Nice Union (the Committee) during its 26th session in Geneva earlier this year.

In addition, lists of goods and services which have been classified according to the new edition of the Nice Classification will include the abbreviation “NCL (11-2017)”. WIPO will insert this abbreviation in registration certificates, official publications and notifications sent to designated contracting parties.

One of the most significant of that classification when it comes to international trade mark registration is that every commercial sector can benefit from the diversity of the proposed classes of the goods or services. An example and ground for the above-mentioned if that brand owners in the health sector for instance can benefit from changes and additions to several classes, including body composition monitors (Class 10), and new entries for both herbal extracts and phototherapy preparations for medical purposes (Class 5).