In Industrial Property Law, the Nice International Classification of Goods and Services has been adopted worldwide with the purpose of distinguishing lines of products and services that are protected by a trademark or service, and which constitutes the practical work tool for professionals who practice this subject.

The Nice Classification originated on the basis of a multilateral treaty administered and directed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which was called the Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Registration of Marks, approved in the year 1957. This Agreement, adopted by the member countries of the Paris Convention and ratified by almost all the countries of the world, was designed to provide better protection for Industrial Property and in the same tenor sanction those natural or legal persons who try to violate the rules established in the Paris Convention, a legal guide in industrial property law.

A new edition of the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Registration of Marks entered into force on the 1st of last. January 2002, after the corresponding period had elapsed to be reviewed and adapted to the new times, managing to capture adaptations in line with the technological advances that have emerged since its last revision. This is then the 8th. Edition, which creates three new classifications covering new areas of services, with the main objective of organizing within a international classification a series of services provided and required by consumers, which had not been included in the last revision carried out. This last revision and update of the Nice Classification had been carried out in 1997 and is continually revised every five years to keep it in line with technological changes, modernizing and publishing new editions. These reviews are carried out by a Committee of Experts convened within the framework of the Nice Agreement.

These constant revisions that have been made to the Nice Classification, as well as to other international agreements, are based on the continuous changes that occur day by day with industrial and commercial technology. So much so that not only new products or services are originated in the market, but also inventions that are the object of invention patents, utility models or industrial designs are created, which are necessary to classify in order to offer adequate protection to these works of the human intellect.

In order to carry out such an arduous task, the elements that in practice hindered trade, free competition, imports and exports of products and services were analyzed. It is in this sense that four treaties administered by the World Industrial Property Organization (WIPO) emerge, which classify all the information related to trademarks for products or services, invention patents, industrial designs and models classified in various groups, having like aim the development of the Industrial Property. These treaties are as follows:

• Strasbourg Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification.
• Nice Agreement regarding the International Classification of Products and Services for the Registration of Marks.
• Locarno Agreement, related to the International Classification for Industrial Designs.
• Vienna Agreement concerning the International Classification of the figurative elements of marks.

This is how each contracting State of the aforementioned agreements engages in the task of modernizing its own legislation. In the case of the Nice Classification, the Offices in charge of Industrial Property affairs of each country are obliged to disclose and make publicly available at national level in all their documents and official publications the new classes on products and services reviewed and adopted. , in order that trademark owners can protect their intellectual rights in accordance with international agreements. In the case of the Dominican Republic, it corresponds to the National Office of Industrial Property, a dependency of the Secretary of State for Industry and Commerce, which is in charge of ensuring the application and incorporation into its system of the new classes of services.

In this eighth edition of the Nice Classification, three new classifications of services have been added, under which a distinctive sign may be protected. These new classes correspond to classes 43, 44 and 45, which even though WIPO has not provided the official translation into Spanish, the services covered by these would be the following, all in accordance with our best interpretation