Trademark Class 40: Material Treatment Services
Treatment of materials — services rendered by the mechanical or chemical processing, transformation or production of objects or substances, including custom manufacturing, printing and recycling/waste treatment.
What Class 40 covers in practice.
Class 40 covers working on materials or objects for someone else so that their substance or form changes. In practice: printing, bookbinding and photographic printing; textile dyeing, finishing, quilting, embroidering and custom tailoring; metal casting, plating, welding and cutting; food processing for others such as flour milling, fruit crushing, freezing and preservation; recycling and waste treatment; air purification and water treatment; production of energy; and custom manufacturing to a client's order and specification, such as job-work and contract manufacturing.
The note sets two tests. Manufacturing is a service only when it is done to another person's order and specification; if the maker markets the goods to third parties, it is generally not a service and the brand belongs in the goods class. And the service must change the essential properties of the material, so cleaning, laundering, rustproofing, furniture repair and construction painting stay in Class 37, while food decorating is Class 43. Indian filers include printing presses, textile dyeing and processing units, job-work and contract manufacturers, electroplaters, flour mills, tailoring boutiques, recyclers and water-treatment firms.
Not in Class 40
Goods and services often confused with this class, and the class they actually belong to.
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Laundry and dry cleaning Class 37 ↗
The Class 40 note sends cleaning services such as laundering to Class 37, which also lists dry cleaning.
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Furniture repair and maintenance Class 37 ↗
The Class 40 note excludes services that do not change the essential properties of an object, giving furniture maintenance or repair as the example for Class 37.
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Custom painting of cars Class 37 ↗
The Class 40 note names custom painting of automobiles as a customization service that belongs in Class 37.
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Food decorating and food sculpting Class 43 ↗
Decorating of food and food sculpting are expressly excluded from Class 40 and listed in Class 43.
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Ready-made garments sold under your own label Class 25 ↗
When the maker markets the goods to third parties it is generally not a Class 40 service, so clothing such as saris is protected as goods in Class 25.
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Book publishing Class 41 ↗
Printing is Class 40, but publication of books and texts, other than publicity texts, is listed in Class 41.
What actually falls under Class 40.
The official heading is a legal category, not a shopping list — here are specific products and services from Class 40 people actually search for.
3D printing services (custom production)
Car window tinting services
Tinting is Class 40, while car washing, polishing and custom painting are Class 37.
Clothing alteration services
Clothing alteration is Class 40, but plain clothing repair is listed in Class 37.
Custom manufacturing / job-work services
Custom tailoring and dressmaking
Stitching to a customer's measurements is Class 40. Ready-made garments sold under your own label are Class 25.
Electroplating and metal plating
Embroidery services (custom job-work)
Flour milling services
Milling a customer's grain is Class 40. Packaged flour sold under your own brand is Class 30.
Food / fruit preservation services (custom)
Herbal medicine decocting services
Preparing decoctions for others is Class 40. Herbal or Ayurvedic medicines sold under your own brand are Class 5 goods.
Leather tanning and working
Printing services
Production of renewable green energy
Generating power is Class 40. Electricity distribution is Class 39, and installation work such as fitting solar panels is an installation service in Class 37.
Recycling / waste treatment services
Textile dyeing / processing services
Water treatment services
Treating water is Class 40. Distribution and supply of water is Class 39, and water purification installations sold as goods are Class 11.
Welding and soldering services
Which class is my product or service in?
Straight answers for the specific items people search for under Class 40.
The manufacturer providing the service files Class 40, which covers custom manufacturing of goods to the order and specification of others; the note says some offices also want the goods named. The brand owner selling the finished products is selling goods, so its mark belongs in the goods class, such as Class 3 for cosmetics or Class 5 for medicines, not Class 40.
Printing for customers, including offset, lithographic, silkscreen and photographic printing, is Class 40. Printed matter, calendars and stationery sold as goods under your own name are Class 16. Logo and graphic arts design is Class 42, and publication of books is Class 41. A press that also sells its own stationery range may need Classes 40 and 16.
Custom tailoring, dressmaking, embroidering and clothing alteration for customers are Class 40. Ready-made garments sold under the boutique's label are Class 25 goods, and running a store or website selling clothes is Class 35 retail. Plain clothing repair is listed in Class 37. A boutique that stitches to order and also sells a ready-made range often considers Classes 40, 25 and 35 together.
Recycling of waste and trash, waste treatment, sorting of waste and recyclable material as a transformation process, upcycling and incineration are Class 40. Collection of domestic and industrial waste, collection of recyclable goods and transport and storage of waste are Class 39. A business that collects scrap and processes it in its own plant generally needs both classes; one that only collects and transports needs Class 39.
Processing a customer's own produce, such as flour milling, grinding, fruit crushing, food smoking, freezing or pasteurising, is a Class 40 service. Packaged flour, spices or masala sold under your own brand are Class 30 goods. A chakki or masala unit that grinds customers' grain and also sells its own packets would usually file both Class 40 and Class 30.
Treatment of materials — services rendered by the mechanical or chemical processing, transformation or production of objects or substances, including custom manufacturing, printing and recycling/waste treatment.
Common examples include: 3D printing services (custom production), Car window tinting services, Clothing alteration services, Custom manufacturing / job-work services, Custom tailoring and dressmaking, Electroplating and metal plating, Embroidery services (custom job-work), Flour milling services.
Printing services falls under Trademark Class 40 — Material Treatment Services.
Custom manufacturing / job-work services falls under Trademark Class 40 — Material Treatment Services.
Recycling / waste treatment services falls under Trademark Class 40 — Material Treatment Services.
Embroidery services (custom job-work) falls under Trademark Class 40 — Material Treatment Services.
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