Goods and services

“Goods and services” is the list of specific products and services for which a trademark is registered. Trademark protection is granted only for the goods and services listed in the application, organized under the Nice Classification system: a registered mark for one product category does not automatically extend to others. Drafting this list well is a key step of trademark strategy: • Too narrow — the mark may not cover obvious future product launches. • Too broad — risk of non-use cancellation actions in jurisdictions that require genuine use within a fixed period (typically three to five years). • Vague headings — many offices, especially in the EU and the US, no longer accept class headings as a stand-in for actual goods and services; precise wording matters. The goods and services description also determines whether two marks count as confusingly similar: identical signs in unrelated classes can usually coexist.