Goods and Services DescriptionsData-Backed Insights for Trademark Professionals

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In recent years, trademark offices around the world have experienced a surge in filing activity from both domestic and international applicants, creating administrative challenges and increasing examination pendency rates. To help manage this volume and improve application processing times, the USPTO implemented a new trademark fee schedule effective January 2025.

The updated fee structure is designed to encourage applicants to submit clear, accurate goods and services descriptions by using the USPTO’s pre-approved language from the ID Manual. Additional fees may apply when applicants use custom descriptions, exceed character limits, or provide insufficient information. As a result, standardized, shorter goods and services descriptions are easier for examining attorneys to review and help reign in pendency rates.

Goods & Services Composer: Alt Legal’s Solution for New USPTO Goods and Services Requirements

At Alt Legal, we’re always looking for ways to simplify the trademark prosecution and management processes. That’s why we developed the Goods & Services Composer, a tool that helps users create USPTO-compliant, cost-effective goods and services descriptions. By combining the full USPTO ID Manual and more than two million live trademark registrations, the Goods & Services Composer makes it easier to build accurate descriptions with confidence. Learn more about the Goods & Services Composer here.

Tracking the Data: Goods and Services Descriptions Filing Trends

Drawing on data from customer USPTO trademark filings since January 2020, we have identified trends in goods and services description drafting practices. These insights can help trademark professionals better understand how applicants have positioned their filings in recent years and make more informed decisions when crafting accurate, cost-effective descriptions.

Number of Classes Per Application

The vast majority of docketed matters are single-class applications. We’ve seen at least one matter associated with as many as 45 different classes! However, most commonly, applicants are filing between 1-2 classes per application. This is a very expected result and strategy as many brand owners decide to file single-class applications when they introduce new products and services to avoid paying Statements of Use extension fees and risking losing rights to a mark.

Top 6 Number of Classes Filed Per Mark in our Database:

Most Popular Classes Filed

Among our data, the most popular classes include Class 40 (treatment of materials, ex. clothing manufacture), Class 34 (smoking and vaping products), Class 8 (hand-operated tools), Class 41 (education, entertainment, sporting, cultural activities), Class 24 (textiles and textile goods not included in other classes). Your portfolio makeup could differ vastly from what is popular based upon your clientele, whether you specialize in handling certain industries (ex. fashion designers, cannabis distributors, wine producers, etc.), or if you are in-house at a company that produces a specific line of products or services.

Top 10 Classes Filed in our Database:

Terms Per Class Entry

The new USPTO fee schedule encourages brief and concise goods and services descriptions. If a free-form identification of goods or services in any class exceeds 1,000 characters, a $200 fee will be charged for each additional 1,000-character increment. Our data shows that most descriptions already fulfil this requirement since most descriptions include 2-3 terms. We do see some applications having 100+ terms which most definitely exceed the character limit and would require significant overage fees. While the length of each term varies by the level of detail, a safe estimate of 15-25 terms can be accommodated by 1,000 characters.

Most Common Number of Terms Per Class Filed in our Database:

Class Co-Occurrence

Another interesting trend that our data shows is the class co-occurrence rate as it demonstrates the types of goods and services likely be paired together in filings. In most instances, the USPTO calculates filing fees on a per-class basis so applicants are neither incentivized nor penalized for filing multi-class applications or multiple single-class applications. Each application filing strategy carries different advantages and disadvantages. It is best to discuss specific strategic concerns with clients or business partners before filing, but a general rule of thumb is that a multi-class application is preferred when classes are likely to mature, be used, and be maintained together. On the other hand, multiple single-class applications are preferred when there is meaningful risk that one class’s prosecution or use timeline will diverge from the others.

Among our customers’ USPTO filings, we found the top 25 class co-occurrences. A notable takeaway is that the most common pairings cluster around the modern technology ecosystem (Classes 9, 35, 41, and 42), which dominate the top six combinations and account for a large share of contemporary trademark filings. This reflects the prevalence of software-enabled businesses that offer a combination of digital products, SaaS platforms, business services, and educational content.

Top 25 Class Co-Occurrence Pairs in our Database:

Bringing Data-Driven Insights into Your Filing Strategy

As trademark filing requirements continue to evolve and as filing fees encourage new trends in goods and services descriptions, data-driven drafting strategies can help practitioners balance accuracy, efficiency, and cost. Whether you are preparing a straightforward single-class application or navigating a complex multi-class filing strategy, having the right tools to craft the most concise, accurate descriptions can make all the difference. Alt Legal’s Goods & Services Composer streamlines the drafting process by helping trademark professionals create compliant, strategic, and cost-effective goods and services descriptions with confidence. By combining practical drafting tools with insights from real-world filing data, trademark professionals can better navigate an increasingly complex application landscape.

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