114
Kabumba/Application of African Union (human rights) law in Uganda
Mandela Auto Spares Ltd.165 Counsel for the Appellant cited the ECJ
case of Office of Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM)166 to
support the proposition that in evaluating two contentious trade marks,
and the extent to which there may be a likelihood of confusion of the
marks, the Registrar had to conduct a comprehensive assessment of
such likelihood, taking into account all the relevant aspects including a
phonetic and aural comparison. However, again, in his adjudication of
the matter, High Court Judge Christopher Madrama did not rely on this
decision.
Most recently, ECJ case law was referred to in the 2017 matter of
Arua Municipal Council v Arua United Transporters SACCO,167 a
public procurement dispute before the High Court. In that case, Judge
Stephen Mubiru cited the ECJ case of SAG ELV Slovensko a.s and
Others v Urad pre verejne obstaravanie168 in support of the
proposition that a procuring and disposal entity was entitled to seek
correction or amplification of particular details in a tender on an
exceptional basis, especially where it was apparent that the tender in
question needed ‘mere clarification’ or to ‘correct obvious material
errors’, as long as such amendment did not in fact constitute the
submission of a fresh tender and was applied across the board to all
bidders.169
As the foregoing survey reveals, EU law has been surprisingly wellreceived by Ugandan courts, in the context of both constitutional and
human rights litigation on the one hand, and commercial and civil cases
on the other.
Table 2: Frequency of citation of European Union law by
Ugandan courts
Institution, case law or instrument
EC
EU
European Convention
Number of
which cited
1
7
6
European Court jurisprudence
ECJ jurisprudence
ECC Directives
Total references
5
5
1
25
165
166
167
168
169
cases
in
High Court Civil Appeal 13 of 2015, arising from the decision of the Registrar of
Trademarks dated 21st May 2015 in the matter of a trademark opposition lodged
by Mandela Auto Spares Parts Ltd To the Registrar of Trademarks Application
No. 48062/2013 ‘JAVA HOUSE AND JAVA SUN’ and trademark application No
48063 ‘NAIROBI JAVA HOUSE’ In Class 43 in the name of NAIROBI JAVA
HOUSE LTD.
Case C – 334/05 – P.
High Court Civil Appeal No.25 of 2017, arising from PPDA Appeal Tribunal
Application 15 of 2017.
Case No. C- 599/10.
At 17.