for consideration. Perhaps the Appellant too can be faulted for not emphasising it in the objection
proceedings.
What needs to be considered before considering likelihood of confusion or similarity of the
opponent‘s marks is which mark takes priority? It is a matter of public interest for the East
African Community to consider what to do with marks registered prior in another member state
and sought to be registered in yet a different member state of the Community.
The evidence on record proves that the Applicant‘s Trademark is a foreign registered trademark
having been registered in Kenya and the owner thereof who is the Appellant sought to register its
mark in Uganda as well. The international legal framework is inter alia that of the Paris
Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property 1883 to which Uganda and Kenya are
parties and secondly the provisions of the Ugandan Law on the matter if any.
I will start with the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of
March 20, 1883, as revised at Brussels on December 14, 1900, at Washington on
June 2, 1911, at The Hague on November 6, 1925, at London on June 2, 1934, at Lisbon on
October 31, 1958,
and
at
Stockholm
on
July 14, 1967,
and
as
amended
on
September 28, 1979, which deals with registration of foreign marks under article 6 thereof.
Article 6 on the Conditions of Registration; Independence of Protection of Same Mark in
Different Countries provides as follows:
―(1) The conditions for the filing and registration of trademarks shall be determined in
each country of the Union by its domestic legislation.
(2) However, an application for the registration of a mark filed by a national of a country
of the Union in any country of the Union may not be refused, nor may a registration be
invalidated, on the ground that filing, registration, or renewal, has not been effected in the
country of origin.
(3) A mark duly registered in a country of the Union shall be regarded as independent of
marks registered in the other countries of the Union, including the country of origin.