Standardised Format for Trade Mark Specifications of Goods and Services

To help applicants comply with the standardised format, the IPONZ website will incorporate an automatic reformatting function in the online trade mark application form. The specification of goods or services will be reformatted so that:

• Specifications should take the form of a single sentence commencing with a capital letter and ending in a full stop;
• The body of the specification should be in lower case, except for acronyms and proper nouns;
• Goods and services in the specification should be separated by semicolons or commas instead of listed on separate lines;
• Double spaces are removed;
• The word “and” should be used in place of ampersands “&”;
• The phrase “and/or” should be used in place of forward slash “/” and backslash “\” characters to denote optional items.

Applicants will retain the ability to file specifications in the format they choose, however, the examination team may reformat specifications so that they comply with the formatting standards of IPONZ. The reformatting of specifications will not change the scope or nature of the specification.

How the Online Form is Used with the Reformatting Function

You enter a specification of goods or services for each class of the trade mark, as shown below.

If the specification has been entered in a form that requires reformatting then the following message is presented when you try to submit the application.

You should scroll down to the Class Information portion of the online form and review the suggested reformatting for each class. For each reformatted specification you must state whether you accept the reformatted version by using the ‘Accept text changes?’ drop-down box.

If you choose Yes then the reformatted specification will be submitted. If you choose No then your original specification will be submitted. 

The IPONZ practice guideline on Classification and Specification has been updated to reflect these changes. Click here to see the updated guideline.