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The classification block holds four lists. A class that fails one system’s rules is routed to the right list, never dropped.

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Nice classes

nice_classes holds Nice classes 1 to 45 as integers. Filter with nice_class; several values match records in any of the classes:
Summaries carry nice_class_count and primary_nice_class (the first Nice class the office lists) instead of the full list.

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National classes

national_classes holds codes from a national classification that are not Nice classes, as strings and exactly as published, for example the letter classes of older United States records. There is no filter on national classes in v1.

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Similar-group codes (China and Korea)

The Chinese and Korean offices subdivide Nice classes into similar groups, and examiners compare goods by group rather than by class. In these registers the group codes are in similar_group_codes, for example 3501 (class 35, group 01) in the Chinese register. Other registers that publish similar-group codes use the same list. Filter with similar_group_code (up to 20 values):
For a conflict pre-screen in China or Korea, filter on the similar groups of the goods you care about, not only the class.

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Vienna codes

vienna_codes holds the figurative elements of a mark under the Vienna Classification, as published, normally category.division.section such as 27.05.01. Filter with vienna_code:
  • a full code, 27.05.01, matches that code exactly;
  • a one- or two-part prefix, 27 or 27.05, matches every code under it. A prefix filter must be combined with jurisdiction, nice_class or primary_owner_country, otherwise the request gets 400 invalid-request.
Offices publish Vienna codes in slightly different formats. If a prefix search returns nothing in a register you expect to have device marks, retrieve one of its records and check the stored format.

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Goods and services text

The full wording of the specification is not part of the default record. Add include=goods_services on retrieve or batch retrieve to get one entry per class:
  • nice_class is the Nice class as an integer, or null for an entry filed under a national class; class_code is the class as stored.
  • language is the language of text as the office states it.
  • translation is a translation, usually into English, from the office or machine-translated by Pinakel. Use it to read and triage, not as the legal text.
  • In the Chinese and Korean registers only the Nice-class entries are returned; similar-group detail stays in similar_group_codes.
Searching inside goods and services text is not available in v1. A request with goods_services_phrase gets 400 invalid-request with the error code not-yet-available.