How to use the TMclass Help file

The Help file can be accessed from all pages in TMclass by clicking on the word Help on the top right navigation bar. The main options, Search term, Verify list of terms, Translate term and Translate list of terms are described in the help file under point 2. The help section for each option can be accessed by clicking on the small blue question mark beside the title of each section. SEARCH: If you cannot find what you are looking for in the help file, please press Ctrl F. with the help file open and type in a word connected to what you want to know.

1. Introduction

From a trademark applicants point of view there are 3 options when registering a trademark:

  1. National trademark. Depending on the country/countries where you seek protection you would apply individually to each of the National Trademark Offices. (Links on homepage)
  2. Community trademark. For protection in all of the European Union countries, you would apply to the OHIM (EU Agency for trademarks and designs).
  3. International trademark. For protection with international scope, you would apply to WIPO (World Intellectual Property Office).

When applying to register a trademark in any of these cases, you need to know the goods and/or services for which you wish to protect your trademark. These will be the goods and/or services that you either already use your trademark for, or are likely to do so in the near future.

Goods and services are divided into different classes according to the Nice classification. There are presently 34 classes of goods and 11 classes of services. TMclass is a tool that will help you determine the class or classes for your goods and services. It can also show you descriptions of goods and services, also referred to as "terms", that have been accepted by the offices that are part of TMclass.

TMclass is a central point from which it is possible to access the classification databases of each of the participating offices, highlighted on the homepage.

TMclass has 4 main options:

  • SEARCH TERM You can search for Goods and Services descriptions (terms) and find out which class they are in before you apply for trademark protection
  • VERIFY LIST OF TERMS You can check if a list of Goods and Services in a given language appears in the database of a participating Trademark Office with the same working language.
  • TRANSLATE TERM For any word/s that you type in, you can find Goods and Services classification terms that contains that word or words, and the translations for the terms in the EU language of your choice.
  • TRANSLATE LIST OF TERM You can find equivalent terms in another EU language for a given list of Goods and Services descriptions (terms).

Export to E-filing Once you have selected the classification terms using one of the 4 main options above, they will appear in My List. From here you can either download and save them to your computer for future use, or EXPORT them to the e-filing system from where you came.

Search term
Verify list of terms
Translate term
Translate list of terms
Select terms Select terms
My list My list
Export to e-filing
Download to PC
Print

2. Main options

2.1 SEARCH TERM

The Search term option allows you to find Goods and Services (classification terms) accepted by the different participating Trademark Offices, and the class in which they have been accepted.

Why you might want to use Search term:

Search term is particularly useful if you are not sure how best to describe your goods and services. If you are in the process of applying for a trademark (maybe coming from the e-filing forms), this is what you can do here:

When making an application it is necessary to define what exactly your trademark needs protection for. In order to do this you are asked to classify the Goods and Services which simply means that you put them into groupings according to the class that they belong to. The process will be much faster if you use the classification terms that are already approved by the Trademark office where you wish to file for trademark protection. The search term option will allow you to find approved terms to classify your Goods and Services.

2.1.1 Search term

  1. Choose the language from the drop down menu
  2. Enter a description of your goods and services in the text box
  3. Press the search button

When entering the description of goods and services:

  • You can only use alphanumeric characters - this is not case sensitive.
  • You can only search for one term at a time.
  • If multiple search words are entered such as 'babies napkins', the search engine looks for occurrences of both 'babies' and 'napkins' in any order. It does not look for classification descriptions with either 'babies' or 'napkins'
  • To include plurals in the search ('babies' and 'baby'), enter the stem ('bab').

2.1.2 Advanced Criteria

With the Advanced Search option you can limit your search results, for example, to a specific class or office.

  • Click on the Advanced Search button to open out the advanced search criteria.
  • After modifying the advanced search criteria, you may click on the "Close Advanced Search" button (optional).
  • The text "Additional filters have been applied" will appear beside the Advanced Search button.
  • You can maintain or adjust these criteria throughout your search.

Search Mode

Using the drop down menu, select in which mode you wish to search for Goods and Services descriptions (terms):

  • Word prefix: If multiple search words are entered such as 'bab nap', the search engine looks for occurrences of both 'babies' and 'napkins' in any order. It does not look for classification descriptions with either 'babies' or 'napkins'.
  • Full phrase: Finds terms that include the input exactly as entered in the text box.
  • Exact match: finds terms that are the same as what is entered in the text box above.

Search Office

The participating offices that have supplied data to TMclass for the language you have chosen appear. By default all offices with that language are selected, for example, if you select English the search will automatically cover the UK, Ireland, Malta, WIPO and The OHIM databases. You can limit the search to one or more of these offices by clicking on the tick box in front of the office initials. See Contact for full information on each office.

Select Nice Class

The NICE classification is divided into 45 classes of goods (classes 1 to 34) and services (classes 35 to 45). You can limit the search to one or more of these classes by clicking on the class number. (See Nice Class Headings)

  • You can select all classes by clicking the Select All option.
  • You can clear all selected classes by clicking the Clear All option.

Master term

There may be many similar terms that represent the same/similar Goods and Services. Each group of terms has a master term that represents that particular concept. Beside the master term a concept can contain 'Variants' (morphological variations of the same term) or 'Equivalents' (terms with the same meaning as the master term, and containing equivalent word(s) - car <-> automobile in the example below).

If you wish to limit your search to the master terms, click on the tick box in front of "Show only master term or representative of a concept".

Term Type
Automobile body fillers Master term
Fillers for automobile bodies Variant
Fillers for car bodies Equivalent term
Car body fillers Variant

2.1.3 Results

After you click the Search button, the results of your search will appear below, as follows:

  • Class: Under Class you will see the class number of each classification term.
  • Term: Under Term you will the classification term itself.
  • Office: You will see the initials of the office that supply data for the language you chose. The green tick will appear under those offices who have accepted the classification term. (See Contact for full information on each office.) If there isn't a green tick under the office name, it means that this term is not in the classification database. It does not mean that the term will necessarily be rejected by that office.
  • Select: To select a classification term, click on the tick box on the far right. This will add the term to My List (top right) for future use.

Display information on the source of a term:

Click on the tick box in front of this option to see which terms come from the Nice Classification, the Trilateral Agreement, the Harmonized list or the Class Headings.

The 2 letter code (Ha, He, Ni, Tr) will appear in additional columns. If you click on this 2 letter code you will be linked to the concept that term belongs to.

  • Ha = Harmo
  • He = Heading
  • Ni = Nice
  • Tr = Trilateral

Expand row to view full results:

If the complete term doesn't fit, click here and the row will expand to allow the term to fit.

2.1.4 Results details

This gives an overview of the distribution of results by Nice Class, source and by participating office out of the total number of results.

2.2 VERIFY LIST OF TERMS

The Verify list of terms option allows you to check if a list of Goods and Services in a given language appears in the database of a participating Trademark Office that uses the same language.

Why you might want to verify a list of terms:

You may have a trademark registered in one participating office and you may want to register your trademark in another National Office, in the EU Agency for trademarks and designs (OHIM) or in the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO).

Once you have your list of Goods and Services for one office (ie. UKIPO) then you can verify which of these terms are accepted in another office that also has English as the working language (ie. OHIM, WIPO...).

If you want to verify if your list of Goods and Services appears in a database of another language, then you would need to use the Translate term or Translate list of terms options first.

2.2.1 Verify list of terms

  1. Language: Choose the language from the drop down menu.
  2. Office: Choose the office database where you want to verify your Goods and Services. Only the offices that use the same language you have selected will appear.
  3. Enter your list of Goods and Service in the text box by either:
    1. Choosing the class number (See Nice Class Headings) and copy/pasting from your own source, or typing in your Goods and Services terms.
    2. Importing directly the contents of My List.
      If the class number is:
      • Bold: It contains terms.
      • Highlighted: My List contains terms in that class.
      • Active: The class is selected. You are in that class at the moment.
      • Normal: None of the above.
      If you include more than one description, each must be separated by a semicolon. (If you do not do this the list will be searched as a single description.) If you import from My List the semicolons will be inserted for you.
  4. You can verify terms in one class at a time. Select the class where you want to verify your terms from the class list in the table header (1 to 45).

If you want to display all classes that contain terms inserted by you, select All classes.

2.2.2 Results

You can see if the terms you entered exist in the class and database specified. The results are displayed as follows:

Result

  • OK Found term in same class. Found synonym in same class.
  • Identical term in a different context. Found term in different class. Found synonym in different class. Input term partially found.
  • Did not find matching term.

Input

  • Input Class: The class chosen for the terms to be verified.
  • Input Term: The terms you have entered using one of the above options A or B.

Term found

  • Class: The class the input term has been found in.
  • Term: The term as it has been found in the selected database.
  • Select term: Click on the tick box (far right) to select the term to be added to My List.

2.3 TRANSLATE TERM

The Translate term option allows you to find classification terms in the EU language of your choice. For any word/s that you type in, you can find Goods and Services classification terms that contain that word or words, and the translations for those terms.

Why you might want to translate a term:

You have your list of Goods and Services in one language but you want to get trademark protection in another country with a different working language. With the translate term option you can find an equivalent expression in the EU language of your choice for a given classification term.

The options you select will appear in My List (on the top right). You can repeat the search for different terms and create step by step your list of accepted Goods and Services in the language of your choice.

Once you have the translated classification terms, you can use them in an application to the Trademark office in question.

2.3.1 Translate term

  1. Choose the language you want to translate from , from the first drop down menu.
  2. Choose the language you want to translate into , from the second drop down menu.
  3. Enter the term you would like to translate and find classification terms for.
  4. Click Translate.

2.3.2 Advanced Criteria

With the Advanced Search option you can limit the search to a specific class or office.

Click on the Advanced Search button to open out the advanced search criteria.

After you select the advanced search criteria, you may click on the "Close Advanced Search" button (optional).

The text "Additional filters have been applied" will appear beside the Advanced Search button. You can maintain or adjust these criteria throughout your search.

Search Mode

Using the drop down menu, select in which mode you wish to search for Goods and Services descriptions (terms):

  • Word prefix: If multiple search words are entered such as 'bab nap', the search engine looks for occurrences of both 'babies' and 'napkins' in any order. It does not look for classification descriptions with either 'babies' or 'napkins'.
  • Full phrase: Finds terms that include the input exactly as entered in the text box.
  • Exact match: finds terms that are the same as what is entered in the text box above.

Translations

Apart from searching in the accepted terminology from each National Office, the search for a translation will also be done in the translation memory where the translations for previous trademarks are stored.

Select Nice Class

The NICE classification is divided into 45 classes of goods (classes 1 to 34) and services (classes 35 to 45). You can limit the search to one or more of these classes by clicking on the class number. (See Nice Class Headings)

You can select all classes by clicking the Select All option.

You can clear all selected classes by clicking the Clear All option.

2.3.3 Results

After you click the translate button, the results will appear below as follows:

  • Class: Under class you will see the class number of each classification term.
  • Source Term: You will see classification terms that contain the word/words you entered.
  • Target Term: You will see the corresponding translation of the source term in the specified language.
  • Office: You will see the initials of the office that supplied data for the language you chose. The green tick will appear under those offices who have accepted the classification term. . For full information on each participating office, see Contact. If there isn't a green tick under the office name, it means that this term is not in the classification database. It does not mean that the term will necessarily be rejected by that office.
  • Select: To select a classification term, click on the tick box on the far right. This will add the term to My List (top right) for future use.

Display information on the source of a term:

Click on the tick box in front of this option to see which terms come from the Nice Classification, the Trilateral Agreement, the Harmonized list or the Class Headings.

The 2 letter code (Ha, He, Ni, Tr) will appear in additional columns. If you click on this 2 letter code you will be linked to the concept that term belongs to.

  • Ha = Harmo
  • He = Heading
  • Ni = Nice
  • Tr = Trilateral

Expand row to view full results:

If the complete term doesn't fit, click here and the row will expand to allow the term to fit.

2.4 TRANSLATE LIST OF TERMS

You can find equivalent terms in another EU language for a given list of Goods and Services descriptions (terms).

Why you might want to translate list of terms:

You have your list of Goods and Services in one language. But you want to get trademark protection in another country with a different working language. See Contact for full information on each office.

With the translate list of terms option, you can search for equivalent terms in another language of a list of Goods and Services in one step. Once you have the translations, you can use them in an application to the Trademark office in question to get protection for your trademark in that country.

2.4.1 Translate list of terms

  1. Source language: Choose the language you want to translate from , from the first drop down menu.
  2. Target language: Choose the language you want to translate into , from the second drop down menu.
  3. Enter your list of Goods and Service in the text box by either:
    1. Choosing the class number (See Nice Class Headings) and copy/pasting from your own source, or typing in your Goods and Services terms.
    2. Importing directly the contents of My List.
      If the class number is:
      • Bold: It contains terms.
      • Highlighted: My List contains terms in that class.
      • Active: The class is selected. You are in that class at the moment.
      • Normal: None of the above.
    If you include more than one description, each must be separated by a semicolon. (If you do not do this the list will be searched as a single description.) If you import from My List the semicolons will be inserted for you.
  4. You can translate terms in one class at a time. You need to select the class from the class list in the table heading (1 to 45).
    If you want to display all classes that contain terms inserted by you, select All classes.

2.4.2 Results

The results are displayed as follows:

Result

  • OK Found translation in same class.
  • Found translation in same and different class. Translation partially found in different class. Translation partially found same and different class. Translation partially found in different class. Translation partially found
  • Did not find matching term. Found term, but no translation for target language available.

Input

  • Class: The class chosen for the terms to be translated.
  • Input Term: The terms you have entered using one of the above options A or B.

Translation

  • Class: The class the input term has been found in.
  • Term: The translation of the input term.
  • Office: You will see the initials of the office that supply data for the language you chose. The green tick will appear under those offices who have accepted the classification term. See Contact for full information on each office.
  • Select: To select a classification term, click on the tick box on the far right. This will add the term to My List (top right) for future use.

2.5 My List

The classification terms that you select from any of the main options (Search, Verify list of terms, Translate terms and Translate list of terms) will be stored in My List (top right). To see the selected terms click on the View button.

The contents of My List will be displayed as follows:

  • Class: The class of the term.
  • Term: The terms you have entered from any of the main options (Search, Verify list of terms, Translate term, Translate list of terms).
  • Office: A green tick will appear under the office where the term is accepted.
  • Delete: You may remove any item from My List by selecting the delete option (click on the dustbin )

Once you have gathered the terms in My List there are 3 options:

  1. From Verify list of terms (3 B) you can import the contents of My List in order to verify if those terms appear in the databases of other offices with the same language.
  2. From Translate list of terms (3 B) you can import the contents of My List in order to translate the list of terms to the EU language of your choice.
  3. If you have come from an e-filing application you can export the terms you have gathered in My List back to that e-filing application to complete the Trademark application procedure.

3. Side functionalities and information

3.1 Top right navigation bar

  1. Home: Link to home page.
  2. About: Background information about TMclass. First time users please read!
  3. News: Articles and information related to TMclass.
  4. Contact: The trademark classification data you access from TMclass comes from the offices listed in this section. For issues relating to this data, you will need to contact the owner of the data.
  5. Help: Link to this document. How to use TMclass.
  6. Nice Class Headings: The Class Headings describe in very broad terms the nature of the goods or services contained in each of the 34 classes of goods and 11 classes of services. You can access the full list here.

3.2 Control functions

  1. Font size: If you would like to see the text in a larger font, please press If you would like to see the text in a smaller font, please press
  2. Log-in: Administrative users only. Normal applicants do not need to log in.
  3. Interface language: You may choose one of the interface languages.

3.3 Compatibility

  1. Versions of software to be used: This web application has been optimized for use with Internet Explorer 9.0 or higher; Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.
  2. Recommended screen resolution Recommended resolution: 1024x768 or higher.

3.4 Cookies

If you're seeing a message that your browser's cookie functionality is turned off, it's possible that your browser's cookies are not enabled.

Microsoft Internet Explorer

To enable cookies in Internet Explorer 7 or 8:

  1. Click Start > Control Panel. (With Windows XP Classic View, click the Windows Start button > Settings > Control Panel).
  2. Double-click the Internet Options icon.
  3. Select the Privacy tab.
  4. Click Advanced.
  5. Select "Override automatic cookie handling" under the "Cookies" section in the Advanced Privacy Settings window.
  6. Select the "Accept" or "Prompt" option under "First-party Cookies."
  7. Select the "Accept" or "Prompt" option under "Third-party Cookies." (If you select the "Prompt" option, you'll be asked for approval every time a website attempts to send you a cookie.)
  8. In the Internet Options window, click OK to exit.

To enable cookies in Internet Explorer 6:

  1. Click Start > Control Panel. (With Windows XP Classic View, click the Windows Start button > Settings > Control Panel).
  2. Click Advanced.
  3. Select "Override Automatic Cookie Handling."
  4. Select the "Accept" or "Prompt" option under "First-party Cookies."
  5. Select the "Accept" or "Prompt" option under "Third-party Cookies." (If you select the "Prompt" option, you'll be asked for approval every time a website attempts to send you a cookie.)
  6. In the Internet Options window, click OK to exit.

Mozilla Firefox

  1. Click Tools > Options.
  2. Click Privacy in the top panel.
  3. Set "Firefox will:" to Use custom settings for history.
  4. Check the box next to "Accept cookies from sites" to enable cookies.
  5. Click OK.

To enable cookies in Mozilla Firefox 2.x for Windows:

  1. Click Tools > Options.
  2. Click Privacy in the top panel.
  3. Select the checkbox labeled "Accept cookies from sites."
  4. Click OK.

To enable cookies in Mozilla Firefox for Mac:

  1. Go to the Firefox drop-down menu.
  2. Select Preferences.
  3. Click Privacy.
  4. Set "Firefox will:" to Use custom settings for history.
  5. Check the box next to "Accept cookies from sites" to enable cookies.
  6. Click OK.

Google Chrome

To enable cookies in Chrome for Windows:

  1. Click the Tools menu.
  2. Select Options.
  3. Click the Under the Hood tab.
  4. Click Content settings in the "Privacy" section.
  5. Select Allow local data to be set to allow both first-party and third-party cookies. If you only want to accept first-party cookies, check the box next to "Block all third-party cookies without exception."

To enable cookies in Chrome for Mac:

  1. Select Chrome > Preferences on the menu bar.
  2. Click the Under the Hood tab.
  3. Click Content settings in the "Privacy" section.
  4. Select Allow local data to be set to allow both first-party and third-party cookies. If you only want to accept first-party cookies, check the box next to "Block all third-party cookies without exception."

Safari

To enable cookies in Safari:

  1. Go to the Safari drop-down menu.
  2. Select Preferences.
  3. Click Security in the top panel.
  4. Under "Accept Cookies" select Only from sites you navigate to.

If cookies in your browser are enabled and you're still seeing an error message that your browser's cookie functionality is turned off, try opening a new window in your browser. Sometimes a browser's cookies will not work properly when you are using multiple tabs in a browser window.

4. Glossary

Term Definition
Class Headings General indications of goods and services in each Nice class that serve as examples of which types of goods and services are included. See Nice Class Headings on home page.
Classification Trademark applications must include a list of all goods and/or services which the trademark will be used for which defines the scope of protection that a TM has within the Nice Classes.
E-filing You can file for a trademark online using the system for E-filing. At the moment there is a link from the OHIM's e-filing system to TMclass, and you can export the data gathered in My List back to this e-filing system. The other Trademark Offices e-filing systems will soon incorporate links to and from TMclass.
Harmo Harmo Abbreviation for Harmonized List. This includes offices that form part of the harmonization project. (See About) These offices use the same Goods and Services classification terms although may do so in different languages.
Heading Refers to Class Headings (above).
Nice Classification The International (Nice) Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks serves to determine the scope of protection of trademarks. Although the European Community is not party to the Nice agreement, the OHIM has adopted the use of the Nice classification and makes its use mandatory for applicants of a Community Trademark. The Nice classification is divided into classes of goods (classes 1 to 34) and services (classes 35 to 45). Each class number is represented by a heading giving general information about the type of products or services that belongs to it. (For more information see About)
NO National Office (National Trademark Office). Each of the countries in the EU has a National Trademark Office. Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg have a combined office usually referred to as "Benelux". Over half of these offices contribute data to TMclass.
PO Participating Office. Offices that participate contributing data to TMclass. As some or the offices such are WIPO are not national offices, this abbreviation is slowly substituting the use of NO. See Contact for full information on each PO.
Term A lexical unit, typically a word describing a good or service, separated from other terms by a semicolon.
Trilateral Agreement OHIM, US & Japan are the members of the Trilateral Agreement that share a common classification list: This list of G&S is updated on a monthly basis. (For more information see About)
Index