What Is the Nice Classification?

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Published 6 August 2026 · Updated 6 August 2026 · 1 min read

The Nice Classification is the international system used to categorize the goods and services covered by a trademark application, organized into 45 classes: classes 1–34 for goods, and classes 35–45 for services. Our Nice Classification Finder suggests likely classes from a plain-language description of your business, as a starting point.

Why it matters for filing

An Indian trademark registration only protects the mark within the class(es) it's registered under. Filing in the wrong class — or a class too narrow for what the business actually does — can leave real gaps in protection even after successful registration. Choosing the correct class(es) is Step 2 of our trademark registration guide. For the full list of what all 45 classes cover, see our complete Nice Classification guide.

Getting it right isn't always obvious

A business's day-to-day description of what it does doesn't map cleanly onto Nice Classification categories, and adjacent classes can look deceptively similar while covering meaningfully different scope. File too narrowly and a close competitor in an adjacent class can legally operate under a similar name; file too broadly and you pay government fees — charged per class — for coverage the business will never use.

Where it's applied

Class selection happens at the intake stage, before Form TM-A is filed, and it's one of the areas where getting individualized advice on your actual business activity matters more than defaulting to a generic template class.