E-commerce / Online Store Trademark: Which Classes to File?
Classes 35, 9 and product classes: how to file an online store or e-commerce trademark at INPI or EUIPO.
If you are launching an online store, trademark filing is a step often postponed — wrongly so. Your site name is your primary marketing asset, and without filing, anyone can use it or register it before you. The real question is: in which classes should you file?
The answer depends on a fundamental distinction: are you selling your own products, or reselling third-party products? I detailed this distinction in the article on retail trademark filing — the principle applies fully to e-commerce.
Before filing, check your trademark's availability — see the trademark filing guide and pre-filing checks.
If you manufacture or have products manufactured under your brand, you must file in the corresponding product classes (classes 1 to 34). An online cosmetics brand files in class 3. A supplements brand in class 5. A jewellery brand in class 14. The logic is the same as for physical retail — the online channel does not change the classification.
Class 35 may complement the filing if you also offer associated services (consulting, personalisation, subscriptions).
If your online store is a retailer selling other brands' products, you must file in class 35 — retail services — specifying the list of products sold. “Online retail services in relation to clothing, footwear and accessories” is acceptable. “Retail services” alone is not.
This is the most common mistake I see among e-commerce operators: filing in product classes (25 for clothing, 9 for electronics) when they manufacture nothing. For more detail, see the article on clothing trademark classes.
If you have developed your own e-commerce platform (not simply a Shopify site) and the technology is part of your value proposition, class 42 may be relevant. This applies to e-commerce platforms that also offer their technology as SaaS to other merchants.
Beyond trademark filing, launching an e-commerce site entails specific legal obligations: adapted terms and conditions, legal notices, privacy policy. The firm offers comprehensive e-commerce legal support.
The choice of classes for an e-commerce trademark follows the same logic as for physical retail, applied to the online channel. If you would like to file your e-commerce trademark, book a call.
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