What are goods/services items?

2021-04-15
Borsam IP
Borsam IP

Goods/services item is the core of a trademark application. It decides the protection of the trademark application. When you are filing a trademark application, it is compulsory to choose at least one class and goods/services item for the application. In a Chinese trademark application, it is allowed to have ten items in the initial application but requested to pay an extra fee from the eleventh. 
 
Nice classification (NCL) is the most widely used classification table in the world, established by the Nice Agreement (1957), is an international classification of goods and services applied for the registration of marks. CNIPA also adopts the Nice classification as the basis for trademark registration but by adding some China-specific items to form a different version, called “类似商品和服务区分表”(Translation: classification table of similar goods and services).
 
The Chinese classification table also contains 45 classes, Class 1 to 34 are for the products while Class 35 to 45 for services. Different from the Nice classification, except for the China-specific items, each international class is also divided into several sub-classes and separate paragraphs in each sub-class. The sub-class and paragraph are the foundation for similarity judgment in the trademark examination. 
 
Does CNIPA accept the item which is not in the classification table? Yes, but it has a high risk to receive an office action to amend. However, CNIPA provides some non-standard items for online filing, which search from the goods/services database but not included in the Chinese classification table. It is recommended to choose for your Chinese trademark registration if no suitable goods/service items in the classification table.