5-3-1 Comparison of Goods and Services

The goods/services to be compared are categorised according to the Nice Classification. The Nice Classification assigns A. goods B. services to Classes 1 to 34, and A. goods B. services to Classes 35 to 45.

The fact that the respective goods or services are listed in the same class of the Nice Classification A. is not B. is, in itself, an indication of similarity. Goods and/or services listed in different classes A. are B. are not necessarily considered dissimilar.

The wording of the list of goods and services affects the scope of protection of these goods and services.

The term A. ‘in particular’ B. ‘namely’, used in the list of goods and services, indicates that the specific goods and services are only examples of items included in the category and that protection is not restricted to them. In other words, it introduces a non-exhaustive list of examples.

On the other hand, the term A. ‘in particular’ B. ‘namely’, used in the list of goods and services to show the relationship of individual goods and services with a broader category, is exclusive and restricts the scope of protection only to the specifically listed goods and services.

When assessing similarity of goods all the A. factors, B. relevant factors relating to those goods themselves should be taken into account:

their nature,
their intended purpose,
their method of use,
their complementarity,
their being in competition,
their distribution channels,
their relevant public,
their usual origin.

The relevance of a particular factor purely depends on the conflicting goods and/or services. The relevant factors and features characterizing a good or a service may be different depending on the A. signs B. goods and services they have to be compared against.