Class 40: Treatment of Materials
Class 40 covers making, processing and transforming things for other people: printing, from business cards to T-shirts, 3D printing, custom tailoring and embroidery, recycling and waste treatment, energy production, water and air treatment, and food and drink preservation. It’s the 31st most used of the 45 classes, with 13,846 UK registrations between September 2021 and September 2026, which is about 55% fewer registrations than the average class. It’s one of the most misunderstood classes, because it’s about work done to order, not the goods you sell.
What class 40 covers
This is the official Nice heading, in full:
Treatment of materials; recycling of waste and trash; air purification and treatment of water; printing services; food and drink preservation.
The idea behind class 40 is a service that changes something physical for a customer. You take their material, design or waste and transform it: you print it, cut it, stitch it, engrave it, recycle it or preserve it. If you make products to sell under your own brand, those products sit in the class for the goods themselves. Class 40 is for the service of making or treating them for someone else.
The mistake I see most often
The mistake is filing in class 40 because “we make things”, when the business only makes its own stock. Class 40 protects making or treating things for other people, to their order. It doesn’t protect the products you sell under your own name.
Take a clothing brand that designs and prints its own T-shirts in-house. It feels like a printing business, but customers buy T-shirts, which are class 25, and selling them online is class 35. Class 40 only matters if the brand also prints for other businesses. File only class 40 and the name is protected on a printing service the brand may not even offer, but not on the clothing customers actually buy.
It’s worth listing every product and service you offer now and plan to offer, then checking the class for each. A UK application can’t have classes added later.
When you definitely need class 40
- You run a print shop, from leaflets and banners to photographic printing
- You print, embroider or engrave customers’ designs onto clothing, mugs or gifts
- You offer 3D printing or custom manufacturing to order
- You run a recycling, waste treatment or energy production business
- You offer custom tailoring, dressmaking or picture framing
When you might need class 40 without realising
The businesses I see miss class 40 usually describe themselves as a shop, a studio or a green business.
- Personalised gift and merch businesses. If customers send you their logo or photo to put on a product, that’s a printing or engraving service. T-shirt printing appears on 382 registrations and laser engraving on 137.
- Tailors and alteration studios. Making clothes to a customer’s measurements is a class 40 service. Custom tailoring appears on 191 registrations and dressmaking on 181.
- Renewable energy companies. Generating power is class 40, even though supplying it to customers is a different service. Energy production appears on 537 registrations and generation of electricity on 255.
- Food producers who process for others. Smoking, preserving or processing food for other businesses is class 40. Food processing appears on 195 registrations and food smoking on 105.
Not sure whether you’re selling goods or providing a class 40 service? The free class tools below show you where businesses like yours actually file, or you can give us a call.
What businesses actually claim in class 40
These are the terms that turn up most often in recent UK class 40 registrations:
| Term | Marks using it | Share of class 40 | How common |
|---|---|---|---|
| printing services | 905 | 6.5% | Recommended |
| printing | 814 | 5.9% | Recommended |
| digital printing | 576 | 4.2% | Recommended |
| energy production | 537 | 3.9% | Some use this |
| recycling services | 528 | 3.8% | Some use this |
| treatment of materials | 521 | 3.8% | Some use this |
| recycling of waste and trash | 469 | 3.4% | Some use this |
| production of energy | 468 | 3.4% | Some use this |
| photographic printing | 431 | 3.1% | Some use this |
| 3d printing | 413 | 3.0% | Some use this |
Printing leads the table by a distance. Printing services is claimed on 905 registrations, followed by printing on its own and digital printing (576). Specialist printing terms follow, including photographic printing (431), 3D printing (413) and textile printing (366).
The other big group is energy and waste: recycling services (528), treatment of materials and production of energy (468). Very different businesses share this class, so a print shop and a recycling plant should each name what they actually do rather than rely on the heading.
What class 40 does not cover
Clothing you sell under your own brand is class 25. Printing other people’s designs onto T-shirts is class 40, but T-shirts sold under your own brand are goods in class 25, where t-shirts appear on 15,166 registrations and clothing on 49,618. A print business with its own clothing line needs both.
Printed products you sell are class 16. Printing for customers is class 40, but branded stationery, books, cards or posters you sell are goods in class 16, where printed matter appears on 14,931 registrations. Publishers and card companies usually need class 16, not class 40.
Design work is class 42. Designing a product, logo or print layout is a design service in class 42, where industrial design appears on 1,874 registrations and design services on 4,929. A studio that designs and then prints needs both classes.
Chemicals and fertilisers you sell are class 1. Treating waste or materials is class 40, but chemicals, compost and fertilisers sold as products are goods in class 1, where fertilisers appear on 827 registrations. A recycling business that sells its own compost needs class 1 as well.
Where these terms actually live
| Term | Belongs to | Marks using it |
|---|---|---|
| fertilisers | Class 1 | 827 |
| printed matter | Class 16 | 14,931 |
| clothing | Class 25 | 49,618 |
| t-shirts | Class 25 | 15,166 |
| design services | Class 42 | 4,929 |
| industrial design | Class 42 | 1,874 |
Each of these is a separate registration. A mark in class 40 does not cover any of them.
Is class 40 the right class for you?
If you print, engrave, embroider, tailor, manufacture, recycle, treat or preserve things for customers, or you generate energy, class 40 is very likely yours. If you also sell clothing, printed products, chemicals or design services under your own brand, look at classes 25, 16, 1 and 42 as well.
Our free class tools build a specification from wording already accepted on real UK filings, so you can see what businesses like yours claim before you commit.
Common questions about class 40
Is a print-on-demand T-shirt business class 40 or class 25?
It depends whose designs you print. If you sell T-shirts with your own designs under your own brand, that’s class 25 for the clothing and class 35 for the online shop. If customers or other brands send you their designs to print, that’s a class 40 printing service. Many businesses do both.
Answered by Jonathan Paton, Founder & CEOIs screen printing class 40?
Yes. Screen printing for customers is a printing service in class 40, and screen printing appears on 294 registrations. The same goes for lithographic and offset printing. Selling printing equipment or inks would be goods in other classes.
Answered by Jonathan Paton, Founder & CEOWhat class is picture framing?
Class 40. Framing of works of art is a class 40 service, claimed on 144 registrations. If you also sell ready-made frames under your own brand, those are goods in class 20, so a framing shop with its own range may need both.
Answered by Jonathan Paton, Founder & CEOIs recycling class 40 or class 39?
Recycling and waste treatment are class 40, because they transform the material. Collecting and transporting the waste is class 39. A waste company that collects and then recycles usually needs both classes, and waste treatment appears on 211 class 40 registrations.
Answered by Jonathan Paton, Founder & CEOAbout these figures. Last researched 23 September 2026, from UK trademarks registered between September 2021 and September 2026 whose entry in this class is still active. That is current drafting practice rather than the historical register. Terms shown are those most frequently used in that period.
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