How Is the Nice Class Selected in Trademark Registration?

Describe the commercial activity before choosing a number

List the products bearing the mark and the services delivered under it separately. Record each product’s nature, composition and use, and explain who receives each service and what is done for them. A company’s broad business activity is not a sufficiently precise description of every item claimed.

Prepare a working table with the commercial name, a plain description, proposed filing term, candidate class and unresolved question. Use catalogues or service descriptions to clarify ambiguous entries. Keep current activity and concrete planned expansion visible, so that the final list reflects the applicant’s intended use rather than a competitor’s copied classes.

Check the version, notes and national wording

As checked on 4 October 2026, NCL(13-2026) has been in force since 1 January 2026. WIPO has published NCL(13-2027) in advance, but that version enters into force on 1 January 2027. Confirm the version relevant to the filing rather than treating the newest downloadable file as already applicable.

Read the class heading together with its explanatory notes, inclusions, exclusions and individual indications. For a Turkish application, compare the draft with TÜRKPATENT’s 2026 goods and services list. The office also links to MGS and TMclass for term research; a translation or search result alone is not an acceptance decision for your application.

Worked example: branded coffee and a retail service

Suppose an applicant puts its own mark on packaged coffee and also operates a shop bringing together a range of goods for customers to view and buy. Coffee is a goods entry in the Turkish 2026 Class 30 list. Assess the genuine retail service separately instead of treating Class 35 as protection for the coffee itself.

For classification purposes, WIPO’s Class 35 note does not treat the sale of goods itself as a service; it separately describes the bringing-together service. The Turkish list asks that its goods or goods group be specified. Record what the shop actually offers and identify those goods; neither having a website nor selling a product automatically settles the retail-service wording. This is a hypothetical example, not a client result.

Keep classification and earlier-rights research separate

Under Article 11(4) in TÜRKPATENT’s hosted Industrial Property Law text, sharing a class does not itself establish similarity, and different classes do not themselves establish dissimilarity. Do not limit an earlier-mark search to one class number or assume that a different number makes the proposed mark safe.

Compare the actual goods and services as well as the signs, and keep potentially relevant results for legal assessment. Classification research does not decide distinctiveness, likelihood of confusion or territorial rights. A Turkish filing and a correctly drafted list do not, by themselves, create protection in another country.

Resolve unclear terms before submitting the list

Replace vague entries such as “food” or “all commercial services” with descriptions that can be matched to the actual products or services and the relevant official list. For a food product, ask what it contains and how it is presented; for a service, ask what is performed and for whose benefit. Clarify an uncertain term instead of choosing a class by guesswork.

Check the applicant’s identity, the mark representation and the final item list together. Keep a dated approved version and the sources used to classify it. Article 11 distinguishes corrections of spelling or obvious factual errors from changes to the mark or goods/services list; do not plan to solve omitted scope merely by changing a number after filing.

Preparation support and the office’s decision

Kayra may help organise the activity brief, compare candidate terms and prepare the agreed application inputs within verified competence. The applicant confirms the business facts and requested scope. Where formal representation is needed or arranged, check the actual representative’s relevant register entry and authority; this guide does not assert that a named firm or person is registered.

TÜRKPATENT examines the Turkish application and can correct classification; preparation support does not guarantee registration or override earlier rights. Send the proposed mark, product or service descriptions, intended territory and any existing applications for a scope discussion. Classification, mark-clearance assessment and formal filing are distinct tasks whose agreed scope should be clear.

Official sources

• WIPO — current Nice Classification
• WIPO — Class 35, NCL(13-2026)
• TÜRKPATENT — classification tools
• TÜRKPATENT — 2026 goods and services list
• TÜRKPATENT — Industrial Property Law, Articles 11 and 160