The opponent has applied for trademark registration in Uganda, which has not been challenged yet nor has the registrar accepted it. Therefore, the opponent had the legal capacity to institute objection proceedings against the applicant. The applicant further urges that the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and TRIPS Agreement are not domesticated by an Act of Parliament. In the case of Kampala Stocks Supermarket Co ltd v Seven Days International ltd HCCS 112 of 2015, it was recognized that the Paris Convention of 1883 was applicable in Uganda and other union countries. A trademark is a duly registered trademark in any country of the Union, which shall be regarded as independent of a similar or same trademark registered in other countries of the Union as was held in HCCS 112 of 2015. Section 44 of the Trademarks Act 2010 provides that the Registrar of Trademarks may refuse to register a trademark relating to goods or in respect of goods or description of goods if it is proved to his or her satisfaction by the person opposing the application for registration that the mark is identical with or nearly resemble the trademark which is already registered in respect of the same goods; the same description of goods; or services or a description of services. The Registrar has such discretion to refuse registration of a trademark as per HCCS 112 of 2015. Therefore, the opponent has the legal capacity to institute proceedings by way of lodging a notice of opposition and the registrar is duty bound to act by according a hearing to the parties and make a decision to either continue to register or refuse to register the trademark. Now I turn to the issue of a “well-known” mark. The opponent in their argument state that their mark is well known and thus it should be protected. From the start, I must say that the section 34 of the Trademarks Act prohibits one to institute proceedings for prevention or recovery of damages of an unregistered mark. Therefore, the trademark must be registered in Uganda for it to be protected as per sections 25 and 34 of the Trademarks Act.