Goods are products your customers purchase from you, such as bicycles or candles. Services are activities performed for the benefit of someone other than you or your company, such as bicycle repair services or catering. You may list both goods and services in your application.
Identifying your goods and services
If the goods and services in your application are based on “use in commerce,” you must be using the trademark in commerce for all the goods and services listed in your application. If the goods and services in your application are based on a “bona fide intent to use the trademark,” you must have a good faith or bona fide intent to use the trademark on all the goods and services listed.
Use identifications that are clear, with concise terms that the general public would easily understand and that accurately and completely describe your goods or services. Using vague terms that don’t identify recognizable goods or services, such as “miscellaneous services,” in your application may lead to denial of a filing date for your application or an initial refusal of your application in an office action issued by the assigned examining attorney.
For example, you might use your trademark as a brand for black short-sleeved t-shirts. You could list them as “t-shirts,” “shirts,” or even “tops as clothing.” All three of these options are accurate and acceptable.
You can search for pre-approved descriptions of goods or services and their classification in our ID Manual or you can draft your own descriptions for an additional fee per class.
After reviewing the ID Manual, if you cannot find an accurate identification for your goods or services in the ID Manual, you may suggest that a new identification be added to the ID Manual by following the instructions on the Trademark Identification Manual Suggestions page. Suggestions are reviewed by the Administrator for Trademark Classification Policy and Practice and are not automatically entered into the ID Manual.
Trademark classes
Trademark classes are a way for us to organize the goods or services used in applications, assess fees, and aid in searching our database of registered and pending trademarks. All goods and services are “classified” or organized into broad categories of goods or services, as determined by international agreement. Each category of goods or services is assigned a number from 1 to 45, also known as an international class. There are many items listed in each class; however, goods and services are never in the same class.
The base filing fee for each class of goods or services is $350. Your filing fee is based on the total number of international classes in your application and whether you meet the requirements for the base application fee. For example, you might have a clothing line of golf shirts, dress shirts, and t-shirts. These all fall under the same international class, so your filing fee would be $350 for the one class. However, if you also provide custom t-shirt printing services, you’d have goods and services in two different international classes. In that case, your filing fee would be $700 ($350 for each class).
