Trademark Classes in Nepal: Which Class Does Your Product Actually Belong In?
Trademark classes in Nepal mapped to common products: food, clothing, software, restaurants, retail and cosmetics — plus the single-class economics of filing.
Every Nepali trademark lives in one of the Nice Classification's 45 classes — and because Nepal requires one application per class, the class list is not administrative trivia. It is the geometry of your protection and your budget.
Pick the class your product actually occupies and the registration blocks copycats where you earn money. Pick the wrong one and you can hold a certificate that covers nothing you sell.
In short
Trademark classes in Nepal follow the Nice Classification (goods 1–34, services 35–45) applied under Section 18A, one application per class. The classes Nepali businesses most often need: Class 30 for packaged tea, coffee and spices; Class 25 for clothing; Class 43 for restaurants and cafes (plus 30 for packaged goods); Classes 9 and 42 for software and apps; Class 35 for retail and import-export; Class 3 for cosmetics; Class 9 for electrical apparatus (installation is 37, generation 40); Class 31 for agricultural produce. The class heading is only a gateway — the goods wording decides — and each class carries its own fees: NPR 1,000 plus NPR 5,000 to register, NPR 3,500 per 7-year renewal.
45 classes, one application each
The Nice Classification divides all commerce into 45 classes — 1–34 for goods, 35–45 for services — and Nepal's Department of Industry applies it under Section 18A of the PDTA. There is no multi-class application: every class a brand needs is its own filing, its own examination and its own renewal.
That structure makes class selection the first real decision of a Nepali trademark filing — made before the form, the fee and the specimens.
Trademark classes in Nepal: common products mapped
The table's honest footnote: some placements surprise everyone. Honey is a Class 30 foodstuff, not a Class 29 animal product. Telecom operators are Class 38. The alphabetical list and explanatory notes of the NCL settle the edge cases — and the Class Finder tool encodes them.
| You sell… | Class(es) | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Packaged tea, coffee, spices | 30 | Foodstuffs of plant origin (growing the crop is a different activity — 31) |
| Clothing and footwear | 25 | The apparel class |
| Restaurant or cafe | 43 (+30) | Food and drink services — plus 30 if you sell packaged goods |
| Software or a mobile app | 9 and 42 | Recorded software vs development and hosting services |
| Retail or import-export | 35 | Bringing goods to the consumer |
| Cosmetics | 3 | Beauty preparations (salon services sit in 44) |
| Solar panels and apparatus | 9 (+37, +40) | Apparatus; installation is 37, power generation 40 |
| Agricultural produce | 31 | Fresh produce and live plants |
The heading is a door, not the room
Each class carries an official heading — 'Class 30: coffee, tea, cocoa…' — but protection is defined by the goods/services wording inside the application. Two filers in Class 30 can sit far apart if one claims 'coffee beans' and the other 'seasoning spices'.
Examiners read the wording against earlier marks in the class, which makes specification drafting a protection decision: over-broad, generic wording invites the descriptive objection; too-narrow wording leaves the adjacent product line exposed.
Single-class economics force the sequencing
Because every class costs separately — NPR 1,000 plus NPR 5,000 at registration, NPR 3,500 per renewal — the question is never just 'which class' but 'which class now'. The working rule: file the revenue-critical class immediately, the next class as that launch approaches, defensive adjacent classes when copycat risk becomes concrete.
Idle classes are not free protection: they cost fees now and renewals forever, and an unused registration carries its own vulnerability — a mark not used within a year of registration risks a cancellation inquiry under Section 18C.
When products straddle classes
Real businesses sell across class lines: the cafe that bottles its chilli sauce, the clothing brand that opens a retail store, the software house that sells boxed products. Each line of business belongs in its class, and the 'similar goods in different classes' problem — where two marks in different classes still collide because the goods are related — is a live examination issue in Nepal.
The practical answer is a small portfolio built deliberately: the classes revenue actually sits in, searched and filed properly, rather than a speculative burst of every plausible number.
Want this handled for your brand?
IP Watch monitors new trademark publications in Nepal and alerts you to potentially conflicting marks — with the context needed to review them.
This article is general information, not legal advice.