Chinese version of Nice Classification amended

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva launched the 11^th Edition of the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (also known as the “Nice Classification”) that would come into effect on January 1, 2017.

The suggestions for amendments mostly came from Switzerland, United States, Japan, European Union and WIPO itself and were approved and accepted by the Committee of Experts of the Nice Union with minor changes.

The Eleventh Edition of the Nice Classification applies to all international trademark applications received by the Office of Origin on or after January 1, 2017. If any renewal or other change relating is filed with WIPO after 31 December 2016, the list of goods and services will not be affected by the reclassification required by the 11^thEdition.

It is worth mentioning that most trademark offices around the world have also applied the Nice Classification to their national applications, and so has China. Therefore, the China Trademark Office has made a 2017 modification which includes most of the amendments accepted by WIPO. Herein we provide the details of the modifications approved and included in the Chinese Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks.

Addition of new goods or services 

The addition of new goods or services reflects the development of the business since some of the products did not exist at all, while others become more popular so to deserve their own identity in the classification. 

Class 7 Electric press juice machine

Class 8 Baby spoons, fork, and knife

Class 9 Black box (data logger); humanoid robot with artificial intelligence; downloadable mobile application software

For example, we found “AlphaGo” and “Yin” two machines monk.

Face recognition equipment and add head-mounted virtual reality device

   Class 10 Medical DNA and RNA testing equipment; body fat detector

 Class 12 Self-balancing car

Class 39 Vehicle sharing services, bicycles

Class 41 Tea ceremony training 

Class 45 Walking the dog service

Vehicle-sharing services, namely car rental services, include all types of vehicle rental. The most common in daily life are car rental and bicycle rental services.

Adjustment to the current classification. In this case, we do not see any addition, but only observe the movement from one class to another class.

Class 5 & Class 10: "Anti-rheumatic hand ring, anti-rheumatoid ring, medical bracelet" moves from Class 0506 into Class 1004.

Class 8 & Class 21: "Nutcracker" moves from Class 0807 into Class 2101.

Class 18 & Class 29: "Casings" moves from Class 1807 into Class 2914.

Adjustment of similarity rules

"Clothing 2501" is similar to "wedding 2513". This will finally solve the problem that the cloth brands have been registered in bad faith in the past for a long time in Class 2513.

Conclusions

Companies which commercialize any of the goods or services mentioned above shall contact their trademark attorneys to have the new goods or services revised and eventually covered by new trademark applications.