Locarno Classification

The Locarno Classification, established by the Locarno Agreement (1968), is an international classification used for the purposes of the registration of industrial designs. The twelfth edition of the Classification entered into force on January 1, 2019. Find out more about the Locarno Classification.

https://www.wipo.int/classifications/locarno/en/

Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs

The Locarno Agreement establishes a classification for industrial designs (the Locarno Classification). The competent offices of the Contracting States must indicate in official documents reflecting the deposit or registration of industrial designs the numbers of the classes and subclasses of the Classification to which the goods incorporating the designs belong. This must also be done in any publication the offices issue in respect of the deposit or registration of industrial designs.

Use of the Locarno Classification

The Locarno Classification is “solely of an administrative character” and does not bind the contracting countries “as regards the nature and scope of the protection afforded to the design in those countries” (Locarno Agreement, Article 2(1)).

The Locarno Agreement requires the industrial property office of each contracting country to “include in the official documents for the deposit or registration of designs, and, if they are officially published, in the publications in question, the numbers of the classes and subclasses of the international classification into which the goods incorporating the designs belong” (Article 2(3)). Recommendations of the Committee of Experts deal with the manner in which the classes and subclasses should be indicated in the said documents and publications.

Besides the competent offices of the contracting countries, the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI), the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP), the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the International Bureau of WIPO also use the Locarno Classification in their registers and in the publications they issue.

Revisions and editions of the Locarno Classification

The Locarno Classification has been revised several times by the Committee of Experts. The current (twelfth) edition incorporates all the revisions made in and before November 2017. It contains 32 classes and 237 subclasses, with explanatory notes, as the case may be. The alphabetical list of goods, which contains 5,219 entries in English, is presented in alphabetical order irrespective of the class to which each good belongs, as well as in the order of classes and subclasses, alphabetically under each subclass.

The authentic versions of the Locarno Classification, in English and French, are published by the International Bureau of WIPO online.

The twelfth edition was published in June 2018 and entered into force on January 1, 2019. It replaces the previous editions.

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