Trademarks · 4 min read · 17 August 2026

Trademark classes: how to choose, and what it costs to get wrong

Short answer: goods and services are divided into 45 classes under the Nice Classification, and your registration only protects what you actually specified. Class choice is the single decision that determines what your trademark is worth. Our UK filing is £555 all inclusive for one class, £245 for each additional class.

Too few classes is the expensive mistake

A clothing brand that registers only class 25 has no protection when a competitor uses the same name on bags in class 18, or on a retail service in class 35. Adding a class later means a new application, a new filing date, and no protection for the gap in between.

Too many classes is a different problem

Every extra class costs an official fee and widens the ground on which someone can oppose you. It also exposes the registration to non use cancellation after five years for classes you never trade in. Wide is not the same as strong.

The specification matters more than the class number

Within a class you describe the goods or services. Copying the class heading looks thorough and often is not: it can attract objections for breadth and still miss what you actually sell. A specification drafted around your real and intended trade is what gets through examination first time and holds up in a dispute.

Three classes people forget

Class 35 for retail and online sales services, class 42 for software as a service, and class 41 for training or content. Product businesses routinely register the product class and leave the way they sell it unprotected.

Common questions