What Is NICE Classification? Trademark Classes 1–45 Explained (Nepal)

NICE classification is WIPO's international list of 45 trademark classes: Classes 1–34 cover goods and Classes 35–45 cover services. Nepal's Department of Industry (DoI) files marks under it, and the Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act 1965 requires a separate application for each class, so your class decides what your registration protects.

Key takeaways

• The list comes from the Nice Agreement of 1957; WIPO publishes it.
• There are 45 classes: 34 for goods and 11 for services.
• The version in force is the 13th edition, version 2026.
• Nepal requires one application per class under Sec. 18A(2).
• Your specification, the list of goods or services, sets the real scope.
• In IP Sewa's archive, 83% of published marks are in goods classes; Class 30 alone holds 15%.

What is NICE classification?

It is an international list sorting products and services into 45 numbered classes for registering marks. The Nice Agreement of 1957 set it up, and "Nice" is the French city where it was agreed, not an acronym. WIPO publishes it on its Nice Classification page.

Each class has a short heading and an explanatory note on what it includes and excludes. WIPO publishes a new edition every three years and, since 2013, a new version every year. The 13th edition, version 2026, has been in force since 1 January 2026.

How many trademark classes are there?

There are 45. Classes 1 to 34 are goods classes, for products made, packed or sold. Classes 35 to 45 are service classes, for work done for a customer.

The count has been 45 since the 8th edition of 2002, which added Classes 43, 44 and 45. Before that, Class 42 held everything from restaurants and hotels to legal services and computer programming.

What are the 45 NICE classes?

Headings are abridged from WIPO's 2026 version, in WIPO's own words. The last column counts marks published in DoI bulletins, as held by IP Sewa on 16 October 2026; each class number opens our guide to it.

Read each class's explanatory note before you file, or use our goods and services search to see wording other applicants used.

Which NICE classes are used most in Nepal?

Food leads by a distance. Class 30, covering coffee, tea, rice, noodles, flour and spices, holds 10,759 published marks, or 15% of our archive of 71,842. Class 33, alcoholic drinks, follows with 5,770, then Class 3 for cosmetics and Class 5 for pharmaceuticals.

Among services, Class 35 leads with 3,815 marks, ahead of Class 43 for restaurants and hotels (1,553) and Class 41 for education (1,503).

At the other end, Class 13 (firearms, explosives and fireworks) has only 16 published marks, and Class 15 (musical instruments) has 57. See the most-filed classes in Nepal for the full ranking.

Is your business in a goods class or a services class?

Ask what the customer receives. If they take away a product made, packed or sold under your brand, look at Classes 1–34. If you do something for them, such as cooking, teaching, repairing or advising, look at Classes 35–45.

Class 35 causes the most confusion. Its heading covers advertising, business management and office functions, and its explanatory note adds retail: bringing goods together so customers can view and buy them.

So a shop's Class 35 mark does not protect the products on its shelves. Our goods and services guide covers the border cases.

How does Nepal use the Nice classes?

Sec. 18A(1) lets the Government of Nepal classify goods and services by a notice in the Nepal Gazette. In practice the Department of Industry files marks under the Nice classes, and the bulletin prints a class for each published mark.

Nepal has not joined the Nice Agreement itself. The DoI applies the classes under its own domestic power instead. Its Industrial Property Section lists filing documents on the DoI's website.

Why does Nepal need one application per class?

Sec. 18A(2) requires a separate application for marks in different categories, and Sec. 18A(3) lets a mark registered in one class be registered in another. So three classes mean three applications, three sets of fees and three registrations.

Title comes only from registration under Sec. 16, and the first-to-file principle generally applies. An earlier complete application in your class can beat you, so settle classes before announcing the brand.

What is the difference between a class and a specification?

The class is the broad category. The specification is the list of goods or services inside it that you claim. A Class 30 filing does not cover every food in Class 30, only what your specification names.

"Food products" is too loose to be useful, while "packaged spice mixes, tea and biscuits" tells the DoI and competitors what you sell.

Do not pad the list. Under Sec. 18C, the DoI can cancel a mark that is not brought into use within one year of registration.

How do you choose the right trademark class?

Work from what you sell, not from your industry's name:

1. List what you sell. Write down every product and service the brand will carry.
2. Split goods from services. Products go to Classes 1–34, activities to 35–45.
3. Match each item to a class. The NICE class finder searches the headings, and the AI NICE classifier suggests classes from a plain description.
4. Search that class. Check similar names and logos with our free trademark search, or browse one class with search by NICE class.
5. Write the specification. Name the goods or services you really offer, in plain trade terms.

Treat any tool's answer as a starting point. Our guide to choosing the right trademark class works through harder cases, and our trademark search and clearance team gives written opinions.

When does one brand need several classes?

Whenever the same name covers products in different classes, or products and services together. A tea brand that opens cafés needs Class 30 for the tea and Class 43 for the cafés, because the first registration does not stretch to the second.

Many owners already file this way. In our archive, 3,943 owners, about one in five, have published marks in two or more classes.

Some large brands file very widely: BRITANNIA appears in 40 classes, Toyota's LEXUS in 40 and YAMAHA in 36. That is defensive filing; most small businesses need only their trading classes.

What changed in the 2026 edition?

The 13th edition's most visible change moved spectacles, contact lenses and sunglasses from Class 9 to Class 10. An eyewear brand filing today looks at Class 10, although older bulletin entries may show such goods in Class 9.

Several headings were also reworded: Class 3 now says "perfumes" where it said "perfumery, essential oils", and Class 29 now names seaweeds. WIPO has already released the 2027 version, so check the version in force when you file.

Do well-known marks reach beyond their class?

Sometimes. A Nepali law firm reports that in June 2023 the DoI rejected a local Class 35 application for "VIRGIN (and logo)", opposed by Virgin Enterprises, whose mark was registered in Classes 9 and 38. The DoI held that a well-known mark is protected in other classes too.

That protection rests on reputation, which an ordinary business cannot assume. Plan as if your rights stop at your registered classes.

Can foreign businesses use NICE classes in Nepal?

Yes, the same 45 classes apply, but Nepal is not part of the Madrid System. Sec. 21B gives a foreign registration no force here until the mark is registered in Nepal, so a foreign owner files at the DoI, usually through a local agent holding a power of attorney.

Sec. 21C lets the DoI register a mark already registered abroad without its usual enquiries, with Paris Convention facilities such as priority. Each class still needs its own application.

What happens after you pick your classes?

The DoI examines each application and can refuse a mark already registered to another owner (Sec. 18). Accepted marks are then published in the Industrial Property Bulletin. Anyone may oppose a published mark within the 90-day opposition window, so rely on the deadline the DoI states. If no opposition succeeds, the DoI issues the registration certificate.

An unopposed application typically takes about 12–14 months, and 6–8 months only in the smoothest cases; both are estimates. In the 12 latest issues, filing to publication took a median of about 3.5 months, though one mark in six waited over two years.

A registration lasts seven years from the date of registration (Sec. 18D) and is renewable any number of times. Our trademark registration service takes each class through these stages.

Common mistakes with NICE classes

Most class errors come from guessing:

• Copying a competitor's class without checking your own activity.
• Relying on Class 35 alone for a shop that sells its own branded goods.
• Using a heading as the specification instead of naming your goods or services.
• Filing classes you will not use, which costs fees and invites a non-use challenge.
• Searching one class only when a related class could clash, such as 30 and 43.
• Treating a company name as a trademark. Registration at the Office of the Company Registrar gives no class protection.

What does a class plan look like in practice?

Here is an illustration, not a real case. "Seto Dhago", a Kathmandu business, makes handmade clothing, sells it through its own website and runs weekend sewing workshops.

It files three applications: Class 25 for the clothing, Class 35 for the online retail service and Class 41 for the workshops. Its Class 25 specification lists garments, not shoes, because it makes none.

Two years later it starts selling tote bags, so it files in Class 18 before the launch.

In short: what is NICE classification?

It is WIPO's 45-class list, with goods in Classes 1–34 and services in 35–45. In Nepal you file one application per class, so list what you sell, match each item to a class, search that class and write a precise specification.

The Act's text is on the Nepal Law Commission website, and our history of the Nice Classification explains how the list grew.

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Not sure which classes your brand needs? Send us a short description of what you sell and we will suggest a class plan, or start with our trademark registration service.