Classifications

Anyone applying to register a trade mark whether at the national or international level, must seek to find out if their mark is new or is owned or claimed by someone else. To determine this, huge amounts of information must be searched. Two multilateral treaties administered by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (Nice and Vienna) created classification systems which organize information concerning trademarks into indexed, manageable structures which can be easily searched and retrieved. The classification systems are regularly updated to take account of changes and advances in commercial practices.