Only two days ago came the news you've all been waiting for -- thanks to this information notice from our friends at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO):

Madrid Agreement and Protocol Concerning the International Registration of Marks

Entry into force of the eleventh edition of the Nice Classification

1. A new edition of the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification) will enter into force on January 1, 2017. This new edition will be available on the website of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), at the following address: www.wipo.int/classifications/nice/en/.

2. This eleventh edition includes a number of changes with regard to the previous edition. The purpose of the present notice is to inform the Offices of the Contracting Parties of the Madrid Union, as well as applicants and holders, of the practice that is followed by the International Bureau of WIPO for the examination of applications for international registration that are presented during the transition to the eleventh edition of the Nice Classification.

3. The International Bureau of WIPO will apply the eleventh edition of the Nice Classification to all applications for international registration that are received by the Office of origin on or after January 1, 2017.

4. In conformity with its standing practice, the International Bureau of WIPO will not reclassify, in accordance with the eleventh edition of the Nice Classification, the list of goods and services of an international registration that is the subject, after December 31, 2016, of a renewal, subsequent designation or any other change affecting the said list.

5. Moreover, in accordance with the recommendation of the Committee of Experts of the Nice Union, made at its twenty-sixth session in April 2016, and for all international registrations for which the list of goods and services has been classified according to the eleventh edition of the Nice Classification, the International Bureau of WIPO will insert the abbreviation “NCL(11-2017)” next to the list of goods and services in the notifications sent to designated Contracting Parties, registration certificates and publications.

6. Finally, the Madrid Goods and Services Manager (MGS) (available at: www.wipo.int/mgs/) will be updated to reflect the changes introduced by the eleventh edition of the Nice Classification.