services covered by the two trademarks is sufficient to give rise to the likelihood of confusion. Registration of a trade mark may be refused, despite a lesser degree of similarity between the goods or services covered, where the marks are very similar and the earlier mark, in particular its reputation, is highly distinctive. Section 9 (3) provides that in determining the trademark the registrar or court may consider that the trademark is inherently and factually adapted to distinguish goods or services. The premise is that goods or services must be distinguished from each other and the law provides for such protection. The capacity of communication by the mark to the consumer about the origin of the goods and the quality makes it distinctive. In British Sugar v James Robertson & Co Ltd, the court held that; to be distinctive a sign must be in cable of fair & honest application to the goods of anyone else. The basic feature of a trademark is to distinguish the goods and services on which it is applied from that of others in the market. In the premises the opponents undisputed decades reputation globally warrants a broader protection on account of its distinctiveness. The applicant has not shown any evidence or controverted the evidence adduced by the opponent as regards distinctiveness of the trademark they intend to register. The appearance of the trademark as present by the applicant is the same or similar in every context of the trademark from its visual appearance and thus not distinct. The word "POKEMON" is not a common noun in Uganda. There is no dictionary meaning attributed to it. The dictionary simply defines “poke” which ordinarily means to push a finger or other pointed object quickly into someone or something. The mark has obtained distinctiveness due to the use by the opponent for the many years as has been attributed to it globally as stated in the Statutory Declaration deponed by Toshiro Hibino. When the word/s is/are devoid of any distinctive character or are contrary to morality or public order among other grounds the registrar is mandated to reject its registration.