Trademark Class 41: Education and Entertainment Services

Trademark Class 41 includes services for education, tutoring, training, entertainment, and various sporting and cultural activities. The class covers mainly services rendered by persons or institutions to educate persons or train animals, as well as services intended to entertain.

Specifically, the class includes movie theatres, sport camp services, boarding schools, vocational training, fashion shows, and casinos.

What Services Are Included Under Trademark Class 41?

The following is a more comprehensive list of Class 41 services:

• Book publishing, calligraphy services, electronic desktop publishing, layout services other than for advertising purposes, news reporter services, electronic publishing services, publication of texts, books, and journals, multimedia publishing of books and magazines, publication of textbooks, and publication of journals.
• Movie theatres, theatre productions, live show performances, amusement parks, arranging of beauty contests, arranging, arranging and conducting of concerts, booking of seats for shows, cinemas, movie studios, circuses, club services (entertainment or education), disc jockey services, discotheque services, amusement centers, arcades, entertainment information, providing online games, games equipment rental, holiday camp services, modeling for artists, music composition services, music halls, night clubs, orchestra services, organization of shows, organization of balls, party planning, production and distribution of shows, production of radio and television programmes, providing karaoke services, radio entertainment, providing recreation facilities, recreation information, rental of movie projectors, rental of stage scenery, rental of show scenery, rental of cinema films, rental of sound recordings, rental of videotapes, rental of video cassette recorders, rental of radio and television sets, rental of audio equipment, rental of lighting apparatus for theatrical sets or television studios, rental of video cameras/camcorders, scriptwriting services, services of schools (education and entertainment), subtitling, theatre productions, ticket agency services, toy rental, and zoological garden services.
• Conducting conferences, exhibitions, and competitions, arranging and conducting educational congresses, arranging and conducting of conferences and seminars, arranging and conducting of symposiums, fashion shows, providing museum facilities, organization of competitions, and organization of exhibitions for cultural or educational purposes.
• Gambling, casinos, and lottery services.
• Audio and video recording and production, photography, dubbing, film production, microfilming, production of music, recording studio services, videotape editing, videotaping, and photographic reporting.
• Sports and fitness, coaching in the field of sports, conducting fitness classes, providing golf facilities, health club services for physical exercise, organization of sports competitions, personal trainer services [fitness training], providing sports facilities, rental of skin diving equipment, rental of sports equipment, except vehicles, rental of stadium facilities, rental of tennis courts, rental of sports grounds, sport camp services, and timing of sports events.
• Library services, lending libraries, mobile library services, and bookmobile services.
• Animal training, nursery schools, arranging and conducting of colloquiums, arranging and conducting of workshops, boarding schools, correspondence courses, education information, educational examination, gymnastic instruction, physical education, practical training in the field of welding, religious education, vocational guidance, and vocational retraining.
• Language interpreter services, sign language interpretation, and braille translation.

What Services Aren't Included Under Class 41?

But you would not use Class 41 if you're applying for:

• retail stores (Class 35 - Advertising and Business Services)
• fundraising services (Class 36 - Insurance and Financial Services), and
• travel planning (Class 39 - Transportation and Storage Services).

Examples of Trademarks in Class 41

You can find trademarks that have been applied for or registered by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) under Class 41 in the Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS), an electronic trademark database.

Some well-known examples of Class 41 marks include:

• OLYMPIC (athletic competitions and events)
• DISNEY PARKS (amusement and theme parks), and
• TED TALKS (educational seminars and conferences).

USPTO Trademark Classes

The USPTO, the federal agency that oversees the registration of federal trademarks, divides marks into 45 different classes of products and services. The purpose of these classes is to allow different types of businesses to register their trademarks into categories most related to their core business.

The first 34 classes consist of different broad categories of goods. The last 11 classes consist of different broad categories of services.

Related or Coordinated Classes to Class 41

If you're not sure whether you should apply for your mark under Class 41, you can consider a "coordinated" class. A coordinated class is one that's related to another class, usually because the USPTO has determined that applicants filing within one particular class often file in other specific classes, too.

For Class 41, the USPTO has determined the following classes to be coordinated classes:

• Class 35 - Advertising and Business Services
• Class 36 - Insurance and Financial Services
• Class 38 - Telecommunications Services
• Class 39 - Transportation and Storage Services
• Class 40 - Material Treatment Services
• Class 41 - Education and Entertainment Services
• Class 42 - Computer and Scientific Services
• Class 43 - Hotels and Restaurants Services
• Class 44 - Medical, Beauty, and Agricultural Services, and
• Class 45 - Personal and Legal Services.

Trademark Filing Fees

The trademark class system will also affect the scope of the registration fees that you pay. The USPTO charges a set filing fee per class of goods or services. So, if you apply for a trademark for posters (Class 16) and shirts (Class 25), you must pay the filing fee for two classes, which is double the filing fee for one class. (37 C.F.R. §2.6(a)(1)(2022).)

Be sure to indicate the correct class at the time you're registering a trademark—if the application doesn't already do so for you. If you list the incorrect class, you must restart the application process, and your filing fees will not be refunded.

Your registration is restricted to those classes that encompass the goods or services you're already offering (as shown by the specimens you submit) or that you plan to offer (if you're registering on an intent-to-use basis).

USPTO Specimens

At some point in the trademark application process, you'll need to supply the USPTO with a specimen. A specimen is a real-world example of how your mark is being used in association with your goods or services. In other words, it's how customers come across your mark as they shop for your goods or services.

If you're applying for a use-in-commerce trademark (you're already using your trademark to sell your goods or services), then you'll submit a specimen with your trademark application. If you're applying for an intent-to-use trademark (you haven't started using your trademark yet but plan to), then you'll submit a specimen after you've already submitted your trademark application once the trademark examiner—the person at the USPTO reviewing your application—requests it from you.

For every class of goods or services, you'll need to submit at least one specimen regardless of how many goods or services are listed under the class. So if you apply for hats, t-shirts, and socks under Class 25, then you'll only need to submit one specimen and you can choose which good to include in your specimen.

(37 C.F.R. §2.34(b)(2)(2022).)

Acceptable Specimens for a Service Mark

A specimen for a service trademark must show use of the mark in a manner that would be perceived by potential purchasers as identifying the applicant's services and indicating the service's source.

When the mark is used in advertising the services, your specimen must show an association between the mark and the services you're applying for. A specimen that shows only the mark, with no reference to the services, doesn't show service mark usage.

When offering a service, you don't have a product you can put a label on. Instead, your specimen will need to show how your trademark is being used to sell your service. So, your specimen can show how you're using your trademark to promote your services or how your trademark is used in the performance or rendering of your service. (37 C.F.R. §2.56(b)(2)(2022).)

Acceptable specimens for services include a variety of materials that can't be used for product marks. For a service trademark, you can submit specimens that include:

• newspaper and magazine ads
• brochures
• billboards
• direct mail pieces
• menus (for restaurants)
• publicly available press releases—such as on the applicant's website, and
• letterhead stationery—for instance, invoices—and business cards showing the mark when the services are plainly reflected on them.

If your services are rendered online, you can use a screenshot of the webpage where the trademark and reference to the services appear. Ideally, the trademark will be displayed in the webpage header, but any prominent showing of the trademark that appears near a description of the services will work. Be sure you include—either on the screenshot or in the application—the website URL and the date you last accessed the webpage. (37 C.F.R. §2.56(c)(2022).)

While most marks appear in writing somewhere, trademarks can also be in audio format. If your mark represents a service, and it appears only on radio ads or in some other audio form, you can submit a sound file of the audio.

Unacceptable Specimens for a Service Mark

The following are unacceptable specimens for service marks:

• news releases or articles based on news releases that are only sent to the news media
• documents showing trademark rather than service mark usage (use of the mark in connection with goods rather than services)
• invoices and similar documents such as packing slips, unless the invoice identifies the mark and the services represented by the mark, and
• letterhead or business cards that bear only the mark and a company name and address, unless the letterhead or the text of the letter identifies the services represented by the mark.

For more information about trademarks and federal registration, see our section on trademark law.