How many trademark classes do you actually need?

India follows the Nice Classification: 34 classes for goods and 11 for services. Each class carries its own government fee — ₹4,500 for individuals, startups and MSMEs, ₹9,000 for everyone else — so the question of how many to file in is a direct cost question.

File where you trade, plus one step ahead

A clothing brand files in class 25. If it sells bags and belts, class 18. If it plans a retail chain, class 35 for retail services. Three classes is a considered filing. Fifteen classes is usually a consultant billing per class.

The five-year rule nobody mentions

Under section 47, a registered mark can be removed for non-use if it has not been used in that class for five years and three months. Defensive registrations in classes you never enter are vulnerable to exactly this kind of rectification application, so the money spent buys less protection than it appears to.

What to do instead

File in the classes you trade in now, plus any class you will genuinely enter within two years. Set a calendar reminder to review annually. Adding a class later is a fresh application, but you will only pay for classes you actually use.