Important changes for trademark owners: 13th edition of the Nice Classification of goods and services adopted

Since 1961, the Nice Classification provides the international framework for the classification of goods and services in trademark registration proceedings. Since 2013, a new edition implementing more substantial revisions has been published every three years; a new version of the respective edition implementing minor revisions has been published annually in between. The 13th edition of the Nice Classification entered into force on 1 January 2026, containing some more substantial changes, in particular in class 9.

Important changes in class 9

The new 2026 edition decluttered goods in class 9:

• Eyeglasses, sunglasses and contact lenses, including frames, chains, cases and lenses for them, were moved from class 9 to class 10 – irrespective of whether they are optical/prescription items or not.
• Fire engines and boats, life-saving rafts, lifeboats and evacuation chairs are now classified in class 12.

Additionally, "electrically heated clothing" was transferred from class 11 to class 25.

Impact on trademark registrations covering goods that have been reclassified 

Most IP offices, including the Austrian IP Office, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the Madrid Registry at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), will not reclassify the lists of goods and services of existing trademark registrations. The scope of protection is generally evaluated according to the Nice Classification valid at the time the application was filed. Thus, the respective goods will remain in their original classes.

Required changes to trademark monitoring and clearance strategies

Strategies for trademark monitoring (to identify potentially problematic new third-party applications) and trademark clearance (trademark searches to identify earlier marks posing potential risks to a newly established trademark) will need to be adapted.

Trademark monitoring in place intended to cover the above-mentioned goods should be amended to cover the respective new class relevant for the goods. The class in which the goods were formerly classified should also be monitored for some time, considering that applications filed under the 12th Edition of the Nice Classification may still be pending with the respective IP offices.

If a trademark is to be cleared for the above-mentioned (reclassified) goods, the search should cover both the old and the new class from now on to ensure that earlier marks filed under the previous editions of the Nice Classification, as well as those filed under the new edition covering such goods, are identified.

authors: Gudrun Irsa-Klingspiegl, Michael Woller