The Nice Agreement concerning the International Classification of goods and services for the purposes of the registration of marks is an international agreement under the aegis of the World Intellectual Property Organisation. Its purpose, as the name suggests, is to provide an internationally recognised classification system of goods and services in respect of which trade marks may be registered. Ireland is a member of the Nice Union of countries and this Office applies the Nice classification system.
Under the
Nice Classification
goods and services are categorised in classes, each of which relate to a particular field or fields of commercial activity, for example, food and drink, pharmaceuticals, financial services, etc. The classification consists of 34 classes of goods (classes 1 - 34 inclusive) and 11 classes of services (35 - 45 inclusive).
When a Trade Mark is registered, it may be registered in respect of a particular product or service within a class or for several of the goods or services within a class or, indeed, for goods and services in several different classes. The registration of a mark in respect of specific products or services serves to define the extent of the protection afforded by that registration.
When an application is being searched to determine if there are any earlier marks, which may conflict with the mark that is the subject of the application, it is necessary to identify which other classes of goods or services may contain similar goods or services to those for which registration is being sought. The
cross-search list sets out the other classes that an applicant should consider searching, in addition to the class(es) for which protection is being sought.