In a number of key areas, trade mark law has not been applied in
the same manner across the European Union ("EU"), even
though the legislation in the member states stems from the same EU
law. One such area relates to the use of class headings from the
Nice Classification which is the list of goods and services a trade
mark registration may cover. This led to the Court of Justice of
the European Union's recent decision in the IP TRANSLATOR
case.
For a number of years, national trade mark offices across the EU
have taken different approaches to the use of class headings. The
British Trade Mark Registry took a literal approach, namely that
claiming the class heading would cover only the specific goods
included in that heading. For example, including the class heading
for class 41, namely "Education; providing of training;
entertainment; sporting and cultural activities", covers
those listed services only, and does not necessarily extend
protection to "photography
