What is Vienna Classification?
An international system for categorizing the figurative (design) elements of trademarks into hierarchical codes for search and retrieval.
The Vienna Classification is an international system used to categorize the figurative (visual/design) elements of trademarks. Established by the Vienna Agreement of 1973 and maintained by WIPO, it provides a standardized hierarchical coding system that allows trademark offices and searchers to identify and retrieve marks based on their visual features — such as animals, geometric shapes, celestial bodies, or human figures — regardless of the words or text that may accompany them.
The classification is organized into three levels: categories, divisions, and sections. For example, Category 3 covers "Animals," Division 3.1 covers "Quadrupeds," and Section 3.1.1 covers "Lions, tigers, panthers, leopards, and similar large cats." This hierarchical structure allows for both broad and precise searches. A search at the category level retrieves all marks containing any type of animal, while a search at the section level narrows results to marks featuring specific animal types.
The Vienna Classification currently contains 29 categories, encompassing everything from celestial bodies and human beings to buildings, textiles, and abstract geometric shapes. It is updated periodically to reflect new design trends and ensure that emerging visual elements can be properly categorized. Most major trademark offices — including the EUIPO, WIPO, and many national offices — assign Vienna codes to figurative marks during the examination process, making these codes a powerful tool for design-based trademark searching.
Why It Matters
Many trademarks consist entirely or partially of design elements — logos, symbols, and stylized graphics. Searching for these marks using text-based queries alone is insufficient because two logos can be visually similar without sharing any textual elements. The Vienna Classification solves this problem by translating visual content into searchable codes.
For brand owners, this means that a clearance search for a new logo must include Vienna code-based searches to uncover potentially conflicting figurative marks. Failing to search by design elements can leave significant gaps in a clearance analysis, exposing the brand to opposition or infringement claims from owners of visually similar logos. This is particularly important in industries where logos are the primary brand identifier, such as fashion, food and beverage, and sports.
How Signa Helps
Signa's search API supports queries by Vienna Classification codes, enabling developers to build comprehensive logo search tools. By passing one or more Vienna codes to the search endpoint, users can retrieve all trademarks containing specific design elements across multiple jurisdictions simultaneously. Signa returns results with the assigned Vienna codes for each mark, making it straightforward to compare the figurative elements of existing registrations against a proposed design.
Signa also supports image-based trademark search, which complements Vienna code searching. While the Vienna Classification provides a structured, code-based approach, image search uses visual similarity algorithms to surface marks that look alike, even if they have been assigned different codes. Combining both methods delivers the most thorough figurative mark clearance.
Real-World Example
A beverage company is developing a new logo for their energy drink brand that features a stylized lightning bolt striking a mountain. Before finalizing the design, their branding agency uses Signa to search for potentially conflicting marks. They query Vienna code 1.15 (lightning, thunderbolts) combined with 6.3 (mountains, rocks, and volcanoes) across the US, EU, and key Asian markets. The search returns 47 marks containing both design elements, including three in Class 32 (beverages) that feature a lightning bolt overlaying a mountain peak. The visual similarity is strong enough that their trademark attorney recommends modifying the mountain element into an abstract wave shape — a change that dramatically reduces the risk of a design-based opposition while preserving the brand's energetic visual identity.