In the classification of services, there is a class that is sometimes referred to as "universal" - namely Class 35. In the "Chinese Classification of Goods and Services", Class 35 is described as follows: Class 35 mainly includes services related to the management, operation, organization, and administrative management of commercial or industrial enterprises, as well as advertising, marketing, and promotional services.

At first glance, the services in this class are closely related to the business operations of enterprises, as if without this class, the protection of one's brand would be lacking a crucial element.  However, many people overlook that the sale of its own goods is not considered a service.

In order to help relevant market entities correctly understand the connotation and extension of Class 35 service items, the National Intellectual Property Administration, PRC ("CNIPA") has specially issued the "Guidelines for the Application and Use of Trademarks in Class 35 ". It explicitly states that general types of goods production enterprises, which only engage in the manufacture or sale of their own goods, and do not provide advertising services or commercial management assistance services to other market entities or individuals, do not need to apply for trademark application in Class 35 over related services.

Furthermore, the official "Guidelines for the Application and Use of Trademarks in Class 35" also provide detailed explanations for each subclass.

1. Advertising-related services refer to providing advertising, producing advertisements, or planning advertising campaigns for the products or services of others, excluding direct advertising for one's own products or services, or hiring others to advertise, plan, edit, produce, and distribute advertisements for one's own products or services. This service is mainly suitable for advertising planning, design, and other companies.

2. Commercial and industrial management assisting- refers to the act of providing assistance to others in managing their business enterprises, excluding activities related to conducting business operations or enhancing one's own enterprise management. These services are mainly applicable to companies engaged in business consulting, research, and management.

3. Franchise-related services refer to commercial management services provided for the franchising activities of others, excluding the franchisor's own franchising activities. This mainly includes providing business consulting, investigation, and management services for consulting companies.

4. Import and Export Agency Services - refers to professional agency services provided by related commercial entities for handling import and export trade matters for others' goods. This does not include trading one's own goods in a buying and selling manner, nor does it include handling one's own product import and export business. This is because the typical entity providing this service is an import and export agency company.

5. Sales promotion for others - refers to providing specific advice, planning, consulting, etc. to help others increase the sales or demand of their products or services in the market. It does not include directly selling one's own goods or services to consumers through retail or wholesale, nor does it include selling others' goods or services to earn a profit, i.e. pure sales behavior is not considered as selling services for others. The distributors or providers of goods or services are usually the clients of this type of service.

6. Providing online marketplace services for the buying and selling of goods and services - refers to commercial entities providing an online platform for buyers and sellers, where sellers offer their products and services to form a collective market on the platform, allowing buyers to browse and purchase the desired goods or services through logging into the platform. This does not include activities where businesses independently open online stores to sell their own products. Services provided by e-commerce platforms such as Taobao.com, JD.com, and Pinduoduo fall under this class.

7. Personnel-related services - refer to providing services such as personnel management, recruitment, and hiring for others, such as "staff recruitment, human resources management, personnel management, employee recruitment, staff job adjustments, career placement", etc. This does not include personnel management and staff job adjustments carried out within the company's internal operations, or recruiting staff for one's own enterprise. Typical representative companies include BOSS Zhipin, etc.

8. Office affairs - refers to providing document copying, file management, shorthand, and other office-related services for others, such as "copying services, shorthand, computer document management, secretarial services, business document management, newspaper subscriptions," etc. This does not include internal file management, printing, and copying activities carried out for the enterprise itself. The most common providers of this service are print shops and related entities.

9. Financial and accounting related services - refers to providing financial and accounting related services to others, such as "accounting, preparing financial statements, business auditing, tax planning, financial auditing", etc. This does not include tax planning and business auditing carried out directly by the enterprise itself or by hiring others to assist. The typical representatives are the "Big Four" accounting firms, such as "PricewaterhouseCoopers" etc.

10. Finding sponsorship services - refers to finding sponsorship services for others, excluding finding sponsorship for one's own business activities, as well as providing sponsorship for others.

11. Retail or wholesale services related to medicines and medical supplies - refers to the centralized classification and display of goods such as pharmaceuticals, medicinal preparations, sanitary preparations, medical supplies, veterinary drugs, and veterinary preparations that require national approval and qualification certificates to be retailed or wholesaled (excluding transportation), in order for customers to see and purchase. This service refers to the comprehensive convenience service provided for the entry of the above-mentioned special goods into the circulation field, excluding specific goods such as pharmaceuticals and medicinal preparations. Typical entities engaged in retail or wholesale services of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies mainly include providers of retail services for medical supplies.

As mentioned above, Class 35 services emphasize providing services to others. Operating and selling products produced by oneself do not fall under the use of services in Class 35.

Therefore, for the enterprises which only manufacture or sell their own products, if the trademark has been approved for registration over related goods, there is no impact on actual operations even if a trademark is not applied for registration in Class 35. There is no need to worry about infringement risks against other’s same mark in Class 35.  However, for defensive purposes, trademarks can also be registered in Class 35.