Which Trademark Class Does Your Startup Actually Need? (Class 9 vs Class 42, and the Rs 36,000 Mistake)

Class selection is a founder decision

A browser-only SaaS product needs Class 42. A downloadable app needs Class 9. A product with both, a native app plus a subscription backend, commonly needs both classes. A marketplace or e-commerce storefront typically needs Class 35 instead of either. Get the class wrong and the application fee you already paid doesn't come back.

Every trademark filed in India is registered against the NICE Classification: 45 classes, 1 through 34 for goods, 35 through 45 for services. FORM TM-A asks you to pick which class or classes your mark actually operates in before the Trade Marks Registry will look at anything else. Most founders treat this as a checkbox. It's the single decision in the whole filing that determines whether your money bought you a registered trademark or a lesson.

Class 9 vs Class 42: the SaaS and software crux

Class 42 is the only class with software-as-a-service listed as an explicit option. If your product is SaaS or PaaS, cloud computing, or custom software development delivered as a service, that's the class you need. Class 9 exists for software you can point to as a downloaded or physical thing.

What about Class 35? Marketplaces and e-commerce

An e-commerce marketplace or retail storefront usually isn't a Class 9 or Class 42 business at all. Class 35 covers advertising, business management, and retail services, and it's the class that actually matches what a marketplace does: bringing buyers and sellers together and running the storefront. If your business sells other people's goods or connects buyers to sellers rather than delivering software, start here instead.

One application, multiple classes

India allows one multi-class application: FORM TM-A can cover every class your mark needs in a single filing, sharing one filing date and one application number. The fee is still charged per class, there's no discount for bundling more than one into the same application.

The real cost of getting it wrong

Trademark fees are non-refundable under the current fee schedule, whether the application is refused, withdrawn, or abandoned. That single rule is what turns a wrong-class filing into a double payment. A company filing in two classes at Rs 9,000 each pays Rs 18,000 up front. If the application gets refused because the class was wrong, filing correctly means starting over: a brand-new application, a brand-new fee, another Rs 18,000.

The Udyam and DPIIT fee discount most founders miss

The fee schedule itself, under the First Schedule to the Trade Marks Rules 2017, isn't flat. An individual applicant, a DPIIT-recognized Startup, or a Udyam-registered Small Enterprise pays Rs 4,500 per class filing online. Every other applicant, including a company or LLP with neither certificate on record, pays Rs 9,000 per class. If your business already has Udyam registration or DPIIT recognition, producing that certificate at trademark filing time saves Rs 4,500 for every class you file, before anything else about the application changes.

How BuildWright helps

We review what your product actually does against the class list before anything gets filed, run a public search for conflicting marks, confirm which fee slab genuinely applies to you, and file FORM TM-A once the class decision holds up. The class question gets answered once, correctly, instead of twice at full price.