T.M.E.P. § 1401.05
Criteria on Which International Classification Is Based
Executive summary:
This document contains one section of the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (the "TMEP"), Fourth Edition (April 2005). This page was last updated in June 2007. You may return to one either the section index, or to the key word index. If you wish to search the TMEP, simply use the search box that appears on the bottom of every page of BitLaw--be sure to restrict your search to the TMEP in the pop-up list.
For more information on trademark law, please see the Trademark Section of BitLaw.
Previous Section (§1401.04) | Next Section (§1401.06)
1401.05 Criteria on Which International Classification Is Based
The Alphabetical List of Goods and Services according to the International Classes contains information about the appropriate class for particular products and services. See TMEP §1401.02(c). See also the Explanatory Notes at the end of each class heading of goods or services. TMEP §1401.02(a). These notes explain the principles and differentiating lines on which the international classes are based.
Some general criteria have been formulated for placing goods or services in the international classes:
- Finished products are classified, in principle, according to their function or purpose or the industry that produces them or, secondarily, according to the material of which they are made or the trade in which they are sold.
- Finished products that are multipurpose composite objects (e.g., clocks incorporating radios) may be classified in all the classes that correspond to each of their functions or intended purposes.
- Raw materials, unworked or semi-worked, are classified, in principle, according to the material of which they consist.
- Goods intended to form part of another product are, in principle, only classified in the same class as the end product if they cannot also be used for other purposes. When the goods can be used for other purposes in general manufacture, the same criterion as for finished products (above) applies.
- Goods, whether finished or not, are classified according to the material of which they are made and where they are made of different materials, such goods are classified, in principle, according to the material that predominates.
- Cases adapted to the product they are intended to contain are classified, in principle, in the same class as the product.
- Services are classified, in principle, according to the branches of activity specified in the headings of the service classes and their Explanatory Notes or, subsidiarily, by analogy with other comparable services contained in the Alphabetical List.
- Rental services are classified, in principle, in the same classes as the services provided by means of the rented objects (e.g., rental of telephones, in Class 38).
- Services that provide advice, information or consultation are in principle classified in the same classes as the services that correspond to the subject matter of the advice, information or consultation, e.g., transportation consultancy in Class 39, business management consultancy in Class 35, financial consultancy in Class 36, beauty consultancy in Class 44. The rendering of the advice, information or consultancy by electronic means (such as telephone or computer) does not affect the classification of these services. See TMEP §1402.11(b) and (e) .
See TMEP §1401.02(a).
As indicated above, in the international classification, considerable weight is given to the material of which goods are made.
A product may comprise items that are sold as a unit and that, if sold separately, would be classified in different classes. The identification in such cases should include wording to indicate that the goods are "sold as a unit." The predominant elements should be listed first and the item will be classified accordingly.
Example - Computer software is classified in Class 9. Instructional manuals are classified in Class 16. The item "Computer software in the field of investment management and instructional manuals related thereto, sold as a unit" would be classified in Class 9. "Instructional manuals in the field of investment management and computer software relating thereto, sold as a unit" would be classified in Class 16.