International class 18

Trademark Class 18: Bags & leather goods

Luggage, handbags, wallets, or other leather goods (and umbrellas).

The USPTO sorts every product and service into one of 45 international classes. A trademark is registered class by class, for what you actually sell, which is why the same word can be registered by different owners in different classes. Class 18 is the class for luggage, handbags, wallets, or other leather goods (and umbrellas).

What class 18 covers

Common goods in this class:

Real USPTO descriptions in class 18

The USPTO keeps a list of descriptions it has already accepted, called the Trademark ID Manual. It holds 876 for class 18, and these are the ones that match what businesses in this class most often sell. Every line below is the USPTO's exact wording. If you describe your goods in the manual's words, the description is already approved, which is the easiest way to avoid an objection to it.

The usual mistake with class 18

Bags, luggage and leather goods: handbags are here. Leather is not the test, though. Leather jackets are clothing, so they are Class 25.

Classes often filed alongside it

A business in class 18 often needs these classes too, or finds its goods mistaken for theirs. This is our own reading of how businesses file, not an official USPTO list.

Class 25 · ClothingClass 14 · Jewelry & watchesClass 35 · Retail, ads & business

How the class affects your application

The class is not a category you choose for convenience. It follows from the identification of goods you write, and that description is what your registration actually covers. Write it too narrowly and you protect less than you meant to. Write it too broadly and you have a different problem, because you must really be using the mark on everything you list.

The USPTO charges its filing fee for each class, so every extra class adds to the cost. The fees change from time to time, so check the current schedule on uspto.gov rather than trusting a number on a blog, including ours.

Searching a name in class 18

Picking the class is the easy half. The harder half is whether someone already holds a similar mark for related goods. An examiner can refuse a mark that only resembles an earlier one. It does not have to be an exact match.

This is where the class number misleads people most. Relatedness is judged on what the identifications actually say, not on whether two marks sit in the same class. Genuinely related goods are routinely split across classes, and a single class often holds goods that have nothing to do with each other. A search that looks only inside class 18 can miss conflicts that an examiner would find. Two of our guides explain how that judgment is made: the different-industry question and how similar is too similar.

Common questions about class 18

What is trademark class 18?

Class 18 is the international (Nice) class for luggage, handbags, wallets, or other leather goods (and umbrellas). It is one of 45 classes, and a U.S. trademark application has to name the class or classes that match what you actually sell.

What does class 18 cover?

Typical goods include handbags, backpacks, luggage, wallets, umbrellas and leather goods. The USPTO lists 876 accepted descriptions for this class in its Trademark ID Manual, and the examples on this page come from that list.

How much does it cost to file in class 18?

The USPTO charges its filing fee for each class, so two classes cost twice as much as one. Fees change, so check the current fee schedule on uspto.gov rather than a figure quoted anywhere else.

Do I need more than one class?

Often, yes. You file in every class that matches what you actually sell. You cannot add a class just for extra protection, because you have to be using the mark in every class you claim.

Check a name in class 18 Searches the live USPTO register for identical marks, sound-alikes and meaning-alikes. First search $2.

What class 18 covers, in the words people use

Each of these is a thing the USPTO's own manual puts in Class 18, with the accepted descriptions behind it.

backpackhandbagleatherluggagepursesaddlewallet
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Free tools: class finder · deadline calculator · what a report looks like · how to trademark a name © LaunchTime IP · Software, not a law firm. General information about U.S. trademark law and the Nice Classification, not legal advice. Class lists are a guide: the USPTO decides how your goods are classified from the identification you file.