Class 40 — Treatment of Materials

Official class heading

• Treatment of materials
• recycling of waste and trash
• air purification and treatment of water
• printing services
• food and drink preservation

Explanatory note

Class 40 includes mainly services rendered by the mechanical or chemical processing, transformation or production of objects or inorganic or organic substances, including custom manufacturing services. For the purposes of classification, the production or manufacturing of goods is considered a service only in cases where it is effected for the account of another person to their order and specification. If the production or manufacturing is not being performed to fulfil an order for goods which meet the customer's particular needs, requirements, or specifications, then it is generally ancillary to the maker's primary commercial activity or goods in trade. If the substance or object is marketed to third parties by the person who processed, transformed or produced it, then this would generally not be considered a service.

This class includes, in particular

• transformation of an object or substance and any process involving a change in its essential properties, for example, dyeing a garment; such transformation services are also classified in Class 40 if they are provided in the framework of repair or maintenance work, for example, chromium plating of motor vehicle bumpers
• services of material treatment which may be present during the production of any substance or object other than a building, for example, services which involve cutting, shaping, polishing by abrasion or metal coating
• joining of materials, for example, soldering or welding
• processing and treatment of foodstuffs, for example, fruit crushing, flour milling, food and drink preservation, food smoking, freezing of foods
• custom manufacturing of goods to the order and specification of others (bearing in mind that certain offices require that the goods produced be indicated), for example, custom manufacturing of automobiles
• quilting, embroidering, custom tailoring, textile dyeing, applying finishes to textiles

This class does not include, in particular

• certain customization services, for example, the custom painting of automobiles (Class 37)
• cleaning services, for example, laundering, window cleaning, cleaning of interior and exterior surfaces of buildings (Class 37)
• rustproofing, for example, anti-rust treatment for vehicles (Class 37)
• services in the field of construction, for example, painting and plastering (Class 37)
• services that do not entail a change in the essential properties of the object or substance, for example, furniture maintenance or repair (Class 37)
• decorating of food, food sculpting (Class 43)

Every official entry in this class

The alphabetical list published by WIPO for NCL NCL 13-2026, in force from 2026-01-01. Each entry carries its basic number; wording listed under “Also accepted” is a synonym the registry accepts for the same entry. Use the wording as printed — it is the same list the USPTO ID Manual is built from.

9 synonym wording(s) are listed alongside their entries above.

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