Classification of Merchandise
The right to use a trade-mark is limited to the class of merchandise for which it is registered, and to the goods, falling within that class, on which it has been actually used.
For the purpose of classification the Patent Office has issued a list of forty-nine general classes of merchandise. An applicant for the registration of a trade-mark must specify the class of merchandise with which his mark has been used, and must describe the particular goods in that class on which it has been used. In case his application is granted, his right to use the trade-mark is confined to the line of products named in his application.
The list follows:
1. Raw or partly prepared materials.
2. Receptacles.
3. Baggage, horse equipments, portfolios, and pocket-books.
4. Abrasive, detergent, and polishing materials.
5. Adhesives.
6. Chemicals, medicines, and pharmaceutical preparations.
7. Cordage.
8. Smokers' articles, not including tobacco products.
9. Explosives, firearms, equipments, and projectiles.
10. Fertilizers.
11. Inks and inking materials.
12. Construction materials.
13. Hardware and plumbing and steam-fitting supplies.
14. Metals and metal castings and forgings.
15. Oils and greases.
16. Paints and painters' materials.
17. Tobacco products.
19. Vehicles, not including engines.
20. Linoleum and oiled cloth.
21. Electrical apparatus, machines, and supplies.
22. Games, toys, and sporting goods.
23. Cutlery, machinery, and tools, and parts thereof.
24. Laundry appliances and machines.
25. Locks and safes.
26. Measuring and scientific appliances.
27. Horological instruments.
28. Jewelry and precious-metal ware.
29. Brooms, brushes, and dusters.
30. Crockery, earthenware, and porcelain.
31. Filters and refrigerators.
32. Furniture and upholstery.
33. Glassware.
34. Heating, lighting, and ventilating apparatus, not including electrical apparatus.
35. Belting, hose, machinery packing, and non-metallic tires.
36. Musical instruments and supplies.
37. Paper and stationery.
38. Prints and publications.
39. Clothing.
40. Fancy goods, furnishings, and notions.
41. Canes, parasols, and umbrellas.
42. Knitted, netted, and textile fabrics.
43. Thread and yarn.
44. Dental, medical, and surgical appliances.
45. Beverages, non-alcoholic.
46. Foods and ingredients of foods.
47. Wines.
48. Malt extracts and liquors.
49. Distilled alcoholic liquors.
50. Merchandise not otherwise classified.
(Note: Class 18 was abolished Feb. 24, 1909.)
As a result of this feature of the law products in various non-competitive lines sometimes bear the same names. There is, for example, a Yale[2] lock and a Yale motorcycle, an Ideal hairbrush and an Ideal fountain pen, a Packard piano and a Packard automobile, a Skidoo soap and a Skidoo Marine engine.