Which Trademark Class Do Construction Companies Fall Into?

In construction the distinction that determines the trademark class can be put in one line: building is 37, selling is 36, designing is 42.

• Class 37 — construction, contracting, repair, maintenance, installation, renovation
• Class 36 — real estate purchase and sale, leasing, site and building management, financing
• Class 42 — architecture, engineering, technical design services

For a developer who builds and sells, 37 and 36 make sense together; taking only one leaves half the activity unprotected.

Class Map by Activity

Typical Structures

A developer building and selling housing

37 + 36. The building activity is class 37; the sale and marketing of the homes produced is class 36. This is the sector's most common structure and the one most often left incomplete.

A contractor doing works only (no sales)

Class 37 alone. If you carry out public and private sector works without selling real estate, one class may suffice.

An estate agency or property consultancy

Class 36 alone. If you are not building but acting as an intermediary, class 37 is not required.

An architectural practice

Class 42. If you only produce projects, class 37 may not be needed; if you also carry out the works, 37 is added.

A building materials manufacturer

The relevant goods class + 35. The class of the material you make (19, 6, 2, 17) together with the retail service in 35. If you also build, 37 is added.

Project Marks: A Separate Decision

A question peculiar to construction: company mark or project mark?

The two serve different functions:

• The company mark carries corporate reputation, is permanent and spreads across every project. Priority lies here as a rule.
• The project mark is the name of a single investment, confined to its sales period.

Registering a project name is possible and makes sense where the marketing investment is substantial. But weigh two costs: protection runs for ten years and requires renewal; and marks not put to genuine use for five years in the goods and services registered are open to a revocation request (Article 26).

A project mark left unused after the development is complete is therefore not sustainable in the long term. An approach to managing a multi-brand portfolio: Trademark Portfolio Management.

Sector-Specific Risks

1. Descriptiveness and geographical names

Terms such as "Construction", "Build", "Real Estate", "Property", "Residence" and "Homes" carry no distinctiveness on their own. Geographical names are not distinctive on their own either — a name like "Ankara Build" is weak on both counts.

The comparison is made on the core word that remains once these elements are stripped out: with an earlier "ARYA", an application for "ARYA CONSTRUCTION" does not remove the similarity.

2. Confusion between trade name and trademark

Company names in this sector are commonly identical to the trade name. Registration in the commercial registry gives no trademark right over that name; they are separate institutions: Trade Name, Business Name and Trademark.

3. Tenders and corporate reputation

In construction a brand carries corporate trust more than consumer preference. Poor work by a firm operating under an identical or similar name can rub off on your reputation, which makes registration an investment in reputation as well as a legal step.

Before You File

Similar names are dense in classes 37 and 36. Running a similar-mark search in both classes before filing shows the opposition risk in advance.

Let Us Build Your Scope

Share your field of activity and project plans, and our trademark registration team will determine the priority between company and project marks and the classes required.

The commercial side: Trademark Registration for Construction and Real Estate Companies.