A trademark is a legally registered symbol, word, or phrase that identifies a particular company or brand of product or service. If your company has a distinguishing mark, it is best to register it as a trademark.
A trademark can help prevent another company from using your company’s logo or phrase. You must apply for a trademark through the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), which requires you to register under a specific trademark class.
Because Class 29 is a culinary class, it primarily protects various food products. This category includes all meats, fish, poultry, and wild game, as well as animal products like eggs and milk. This category also includes some vegetables, oils, and condiments.
Meat and Seafood Products: This trademark category includes all types of meat, regardless of origin. This class includes beef, pork, poultry, game, fish, lobster, clams, crab, and many other types of meat. Certain processed or related products, such as sausages, sardines, caviar, and seaweed, also appear here.
Dairy Products: This list includes milk, cream, and all milk products. There’s also a wide selection of cheeses and cheese spreads. This category also includes butter, butter spreads, and margarine.
Nuts, Olives, and Coconuts: If you can think of a nut, it’s probably in Class 29. This includes all nut butter, such as peanut and almond butter. Nut oils, such as sunflower and peanut oil, make an appearance as well.
Similarly, most olive and coconut products fall into this category. Coconut oil, olives, coconut butter, and other ingredients can also be found here.
Fruits and Vegetables: Class 29 specifically covers a few types of “processed” fruits and vegetables. Fresh fruits, vegetables, and other products instead go into Class 31, which covers “natural agricultural goods.”
Specifically, Class 29 covers various types of:
- Fruit leather and fruit snacks
- Dried, frozen, and canned fruit
- Fruit spreads (jams and jellies)
- Cooked, dried, frozen, and juiced vegetables
- Vegetable preserves (pickles and jarred jalapeños)
Related Items
Some products can be difficult to determine which trademark class they belong to. If you’re unsure whether your product falls under Trademark Class 29, consider the following closely related items:
- Baby food goes into Class 5, which covers pharmaceutical goods.
- Animal food goes into Class 31, even if it uses the products described above.
- If your product is a drink it will instead go into one of the drink classes. Class 32 covers light beverage products (beer, fruit juice, soda) while Class 33 covers most wines and spirits.
When you file your trademark application with the USPTO, you will be asked to register under the class that best describes your product or service.
Trademark Class 29 encompasses all meat, dairy, and nut brands, as well as certain preserved vegetables and other related goods. It is best to consult with an experienced trademark lawyer if you intend to apply for a trademark. You don’t want to spend the time and money on a trademark application only to have it rejected by the USPTO.