Your trademark might cover the wrong product.

Your SaaS has paying users. The name sits on the login page, the pitch deck, the App Store listing. Then a lawyer friend asks which class you filed in, and you realise your trademark covers a downloadable app — while your actual business is a cloud platform people access through a browser. That gap is real, and competitors can walk through it. Most tech founders get the Class 9 vs Class 42 distinction wrong. This is the correction.

The 45 classes, in one line

Trademarks register class-wise under the NICE system: classes 1–34 cover goods, 35–45 cover services. Software straddles the line, which is exactly why founders misfile. Two classes matter for you: 9 and 42.

Class 9: the product class

Class 9 covers goods — tangible (or downloadable) things. Computer software programs, mobile applications, downloadable apps. If your customer downloads something and installs it, you are in Class 9 territory. A mobile app on the Play Store. Desktop software. A downloadable plugin. All Class 9.

Class 42: the service class

Class 42 covers services — things done for the customer. Software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), cloud computing, software development, hosting. If your customer logs into a browser and uses your platform without downloading anything, that is a Class 42 service. This is where most modern SaaS businesses actually live.

The rule of thumb

Downloaded it? Class 9. Logged into it? Class 42. Mobile app with a cloud backend syncing data? Both — the app is a Class 9 good and the syncing platform is a Class 42 service. I see founders file only 42 because "we're a SaaS company" while their iOS app sits unprotected in the App Store, and I see others file only 9 while a rival launches a similarly-named cloud service they cannot touch. Filing in the wrong class is exactly how that happens. Audit what you actually sell, not what your pitch deck says you are.

Filing strategy: file both if the math works

Each class is a separate fee in the TM-A application — ₹4,500 per class for startups, small enterprises and individuals, ₹9,000 for companies, on electronic filing. Two classes double the fee, not the paperwork: one TM-A can cover multiple classes. My practical take: if you ship both a downloadable app and a cloud service, file both classes from day one. The application date becomes your priority date, and priority is everything in trademark disputes. Filing the second class a year later means a year of exposure.

One more class worth a look: Class 35, if you run an online marketplace or app store of your own, and Class 38 for telecom-adjacent messaging features. Do not over-file either — every class you claim and never use is a class someone can petition to cancel for non-use after five years. File what you sell. Nothing more.

Before you file: search first

Never file blind. Run a trademark search on the IP India public portal for your name across Classes 9, 42, and adjacent classes before spending a rupee on the application. You are looking for identical marks and deceptively similar ones — similar sound, similar meaning, similar visual impression. A thirty-minute search can save you an eighteen-month objection fight. (Our class search guide shows how to read the 45 classes before you start.) If the search throws up a close match, that is the moment to tweak the name or narrow the specification, not after the examiner cites it against you.

The app-store angle

Here is something founders learn the hard way: Apple and Google act on trademark complaints. A registered mark in Class 9 gives you real power to get a copycat app pulled from the stores — a pending application carries far less weight, and no filing at all leaves you writing polite emails nobody answers. If your distribution runs through app stores, Class 9 is not optional paperwork. It is your takedown tool.

The distinctiveness check

Tech names skew descriptive — "CloudSync" for syncing software, "PayFast" for payments. The Registry objects under Section 9 when a mark merely describes the product. Invented or arbitrary names sail through; descriptive names fight for every inch. If your name describes what the software does, budget for a harder examination and stronger evidence of acquired distinctiveness.

Timeline and symbols

After filing TM-A, expect an examination report with objections — normal, not fatal. Reply within 30 days (extendable via Form TM-M). Then advertisement in the Trade Marks Journal, a 4-month opposition window, and registration. Twelve to eighteen months end to end if unopposed. Use ™ from the filing date; ® only after the certificate arrives.

If you want the class strategy mapped to your actual product — app, platform, API, or all three — our team files software trademarks weekly and will tell you straight which classes you need and which you don't.