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Trademark class 17 — Rubber, plastics and insulation

Materials in a half-made state — rubber and plastics in sheet, rod or extruded form, insulation, gaskets and seals, packing materials, and flexible non-metal pipes and hoses.

Below: the official class heading, 5 kinds of business that file here, 4 things that get filed here by mistake and where each actually belongs, the 3 classes usually filed alongside class 17, and all 45 classes in one table.

Class 17 Goods 17 of 34 goods classes Chemicals and materials

The class 17 heading

As published in the Nice Classification, the WIPO list the Indian register is organised on.

Nice Classification — class 17

Unprocessed and semi-processed rubber, gutta-percha, gum, asbestos, mica and substitutes for all these materials; plastics and resins in extruded form for use in manufacture; packing, stopping and insulating materials; flexible pipes, tubes and hoses, not of metal.

Transcribed from the Nice Classification (11th edition). WIPO revises these headings between editions, and a heading describes a class rather than closing the list of what falls in it — the Registry's own list of goods and services is what governs a filing.

Who files in class 17

Concrete enough to recognise yourself in, or to rule yourself out. These are our judgements, not the Registry's.

Files here
  • A PVC pipe and garden-hose manufacturer
  • A rubber sheet and gasket maker supplying industry
  • A thermal and acoustic insulation materials brand
  • A packaging-film extruder
  • An industrial adhesive-tape manufacturer
Does not file here
  • Rigid pipes for building — class 19
  • Finished rubber goods such as tyres — class 12
  • Raw chemicals and unprocessed resins — class 1
  • Laying, lining or installing the material — class 37

What people file in class 17 by mistake

Each of these belongs in a class of its own, linked. Getting it wrong is not fatal, but it is slow and it is paid for twice.

Not in class 17Where it goes
Rigid pipes for building class 19
Finished rubber goods such as tyres class 12
Raw chemicals and unprocessed resins class 1
Laying, lining or installing the material class 37

Goods or services — and which side class 17 is on

The first cut in the whole system, and the one that decides half of all misfilings.

Side
Goods
Classes 1 to 34
Position
17 of 34
34 goods classes in all
Neighbours
16 · 18
Classes 16 and 18

Classes 1 to 34 are goods — things somebody makes and somebody else owns afterwards. Classes 35 to 45 are services — things somebody does. Class 17 is on the goods side, which means a registration here covers the article you sell and not the service you perform around it. Selling it in your own shop, making it to somebody else's order, delivering it, teaching people to use it — those are separate classes on the other side of the line.

Neighbouring numbers are not neighbouring businesses. The classification was assembled over decades and its order is historical, so class 17 sits beside class 16 and class 18 for reasons that have nothing to do with what a modern company sells. Read down the table at the foot of this page rather than around a number.

Filing in class 17 protects class 17

The single most expensive misunderstanding in Indian trademark filing.

A trademark registration is a right in the classes named on it. Registering in class 17 gives you nothing in the other 44: the identical name remains available to somebody else in every class you did not file, and they can register it there. This is not a loophole — it is the design. The classification exists precisely so that the same word can belong to a shoe company and to a software company at once.

Read the other way it is the reassuring half. A mark already registered in a class unrelated to yours generally cannot stop you using the name in yours, which is why a search that comes back with hits is not automatically a dead end — what matters is whether the hits are in your class and near your goods. Well-known marks are the exception the system writes for itself, and whether a mark is well known is a finding the Registry makes, not something read off a list.

The practical consequence is that the classes you file describe the business you intend to be, not only the one you are. Extending into a class later means filing later — at that day's queue, and against whatever has been registered in the meantime by somebody who read this page sooner.

General information, not legal advice. This page explains how the classification system is organised. It is not advice about your filing: which class or classes a mark belongs in depends on the goods and services you actually supply, and the specification is drafted word by word, not chosen off a list. Have a trademark attorney confirm the classes and the wording before you file. We publish no filing fees anywhere on this site — they are set by the Registry and revised from time to time, and we have no verified source for them, so take them from the Registry's own schedule.

Classes usually filed with class 17

Why each one comes up. Our judgement, from the way these businesses are actually built.

ClassCoversWhy it comes up with class 17
Class 1 Industrial and agricultural chemicals The unprocessed resins and compounds an extruder buys and sometimes resells are class 1.
Class 19 Non-metal building materials Rigid non-metal pipes for building sit in class 19, so a pipe brand making both rigid and flexible ranges files both.
Class 37 Construction, installation and repair Insulation and piping work carried out on site is a class 37 service.

The rest of chemicals and materials

Classes that sit in the same part of the classification as class 17.

The name has to clear more than one register

A class is one queue. The address is another, and it is the one that goes on the packaging.

A registration in class 17 covers rubber, plastics and insulation on the register. It reserves no address, no handle and no listing — those are first-come queues run by people who have never heard of the Nice Classification.

A trademark class and a domain name have nothing to do with each other, and each is regularly mistaken for the other. Registering a domain creates no trademark right of any kind — the registrar sells you a rental on an address and makes no enquiry into who else uses the name. A trademark registration, equally, reserves nothing at any registry: the matching address can be bought by anyone while your application sits in the queue.

Which is why the practical order is to check both before printing anything. Across the 14 endings we price, the range runs from .xyz at ₹249 to .ai at ₹15,400. Five of them, and what each costs for a first year:

EndingFirst year
.io ₹3,800
.tech ₹3,999
.store ₹4,999
.ai ₹15,400
.xyz ₹249

Indicative first-year prices from our own table, not a registrar quote, and not an availability answer — whether a particular name is free is a question only a live lookup can settle. Each ending has its own page with who it suits and how the check works.

Questions about class 17

What does trademark class 17 cover?

Materials in a half-made state — rubber and plastics in sheet, rod or extruded form, insulation, gaskets and seals, packing materials, and flexible non-metal pipes and hoses. The Nice Classification heading for class 17 reads: Unprocessed and semi-processed rubber, gutta-percha, gum, asbestos, mica and substitutes for all these materials; plastics and resins in extruded form for use in manufacture; packing, stopping and insulating materials; flexible pipes, tubes and hoses, not of metal.

Is class 17 a goods class or a services class?

Goods. Classes 1 to 34 cover goods and classes 35 to 45 cover services, and class 17 is the 17th of the 34 goods classes. The distinction matters more than it looks: the thing you sell and the service you perform around it are different classes even when they carry the same name, which is why a manufacturer that also runs a shop, or a studio that also sells a product, ends up on both sides of the line.

Does registering in class 17 protect my name in the other 44 classes?

No. A registration is a right in the classes it names and nowhere else, so a mark registered in class 17 leaves the same name available to somebody else in the remaining 44. The rule read the other way is the useful half: a mark somebody else holds in a class unrelated to yours generally cannot stop you, which is how identical names co-exist across unrelated industries. Well-known marks are the exception the system carves out for itself, and whether a mark is well known is decided by the Registry rather than by the class list.

PVC pipes: class 17 or class 19?

Flexible pipes, tubes and hoses not of metal are named in class 17. Rigid pipes for building are named in class 19. A pipe manufacturer with both a plumbing range and a garden range genuinely needs both, which surprises most of them.

Is my packaging film class 16 or class 17?

Plastic sheets, films and bags for wrapping and packaging are named in class 16; plastics in extruded form for use in manufacture are named in class 17. The distinction is who uses it next — a packer, or a factory that will shape it further.

Can this page tell me whether a name is already registered in class 17?

No, and no static page can. This file was built ahead of time and serves the same bytes to everyone, while applications and registrations move daily. The register is maintained by the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks, and its public search is free to use — this page is for working out which class to search in, which is the question that has to be answered first.

All 45 classes

The whole classification, goods first. The same table appears on every class page, so whichever one you landed on carries the full picture.

ClassWhat it coversSide
Class 1 Industrial and agricultural chemicals Goods
Class 2 Paints, dyes and printing inks Goods
Class 3 Cosmetics, toiletries and cleaning preparations Goods
Class 4 Fuels, lubricants and candles Goods
Class 5 Pharmaceuticals and medical preparations Goods
Class 6 Common metals and metal hardware Goods
Class 7 Machines and power tools Goods
Class 8 Hand tools, cutlery and razors Goods
Class 9 Software, electronics and instruments Goods
Class 10 Medical and surgical devices Goods
Class 11 Lighting, heating and sanitary apparatus Goods
Class 12 Vehicles and their parts Goods
Class 13 Firearms, explosives and fireworks Goods
Class 14 Jewellery, precious metals and watches Goods
Class 15 Musical instruments Goods
Class 16 Paper, printed matter and stationery Goods
Class 17 Rubber, plastics and insulation Goods
Class 18 Leather goods, bags and luggage Goods
Class 19 Non-metal building materials Goods
Class 20 Furniture, mirrors and non-metal containers Goods
Class 21 Kitchenware, glassware and brushes Goods
Class 22 Ropes, tents, sacks and raw fibres Goods
Class 23 Yarns and threads Goods
Class 24 Fabrics and household linen Goods
Class 25 Clothing, footwear and headwear Goods
Class 26 Lace, buttons and hair accessories Goods
Class 27 Carpets, rugs and floor coverings Goods
Class 28 Toys, games and sporting goods Goods
Class 29 Meat, dairy and processed foods Goods
Class 30 Staples, spices, bakery and beverages as goods Goods
Class 31 Fresh produce, seeds and animal feed Goods
Class 32 Beers, water and soft drinks Goods
Class 33 Wines and spirits Goods
Class 34 Tobacco, vaporisers and smokers' articles Goods
Class 35 Advertising, retail and business services Services
Class 36 Financial, insurance and property services Services
Class 37 Construction, installation and repair Services
Class 38 Telecommunications Services
Class 39 Transport, storage and travel Services
Class 40 Manufacturing to order and material treatment Services
Class 41 Education, entertainment and events Services
Class 42 Software, IT and design services Services
Class 43 Restaurants, cafés and hotels Services
Class 44 Medical, beauty and agricultural services Services
Class 45 Legal, security and personal services Services

Check the name before you file in class 17

One search runs the domain endings, the social handles and the marketplace listings together, so you find out the name is gone before the specification is drafted rather than after.

Check a name

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