Skip to main content

WHAT DOES A BRAND NAME AND A LABEL HAVE TO DO WITH THE LAW ?.




  By BarefootLawyers.

Ssekabanja started making shoes two years ago because no shop could make a shoe that could fit him. While at a party he met another bigfooted person who asked him where he imported his shoe from. This gave Ssekabanja the idea to start an actual shoe company. The rest is history. His company is now big. He sells the best bigfoot shoes at the lowest prices, but he has still failed to get a ‘really’ good name for the shoes that he sells. 

Last month, someone suggested that Ssekabanja should start making shoe polish too. This was also an instant success Afterall, it kept the shoes shinning longer and was 3 times cheaper than all the other types. He then shared some shoe polish samples for the people in uptown Kampala, but no one bought the shoe polish ‘mbu’ for them they use ‘labels’ and ‘brands.
 
WHY ARE LABELS AND BRAND NAMES IMPORTANT?
Labels or brand names are usually those words, symbols or phrase that help people to know that a certain product is from a specific company. For example, you know that Fanta is a type of soda from the Coca-Cola company. You also know that Harrier is made by Toyota. If you found a Harrier made by Mercedes Benz, you would not trust it.

So, a label, helps you as a customer to identify the product. It also helps the company to protect their products so no one can use them to sell products that are not theirs.
In the law, these labels, tags, or brand names are called trademarks. This is because the product goes by that name when it is being traded or sold. This trademark is what the law protects as property belonging to the maker of the product.

So, what Ssekabanja has is a product without a name that the law can protect. He cannot just call it shoe polish, but he must give it a unique name or symbol; that will allow people to know that the shoe polish they are using belongs to him.

This will not only ensure that his customers remain loyal to his ‘brand’ and ‘label’, but it will also give him a chance to go to the law to make sure they protect his new shoe polish.

📷: Unsplash

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ambassador Angualia Richard Perished in a Fatal Accident.

Story by Osuta Yusuf. Arua City. 29-7-2025. 📸: Portrait of Ambassador Angualia Richard. Courtesy Photo. Former Uganda's Ambassador to Egypt, Ambassador Angualia Louis Richard has been reported dead this evening 5pm 28-7-2025 after he was involved in a head-on collision accident with another motorcycle rider near Abi Farm, Ayivu East Constituency in Arua City. 📸: Photos from the scene of the Accident. Courtesy Photos. He met his death this evening while riding on a Bajaj Motorcycle. Amb. Angualia, who contested in 2011 for Maracha County but lost to Hon Alex Onzima Adrooa. In 2016 when two Constituencies were created in Maracha District, carving Maracha Constituency and Maracha East constituency, Ambassador Angualia contested for Maracha Constituency MP position in 2016 but lost to Hon Oguzu Lee Denis. Ambassador Angualia later shifted to contest in Maracha East Constituency but again lost to Hon Ruth Lematia Molly Ondoru during the 4-September-2020...

Lab Student Drowned, Body Missing in Rokoze Lake in Nyadri Sub-county, Maracha District.

Maracha District.  5-December-2025. 📸: Residents gathered around the lake as they searched the missing body of the student. Photo by #Information_is_Power's news reporter.  This afternoon Friday 5-December-2025, a student from St Joseph Laboratory Training School in Maracha hospital, a one  Araku Denis drowned in Rokoze water body in Nyadri Sub-county and the  body has not been retrieved upto this night as the police and residents searched for it and in vain but they are expected to resume retrieving it tomorrow Saturday 6-December-2025. 📸: Photo of the deceased which we captured on his phone screen this night. Araku and his fellow students had  reportedly gone to pass time at water point after completing exams papers of today. Him and callagues got attracted to swimming at water body where he perished.  By press time, efforts to retrieve his body proved futile as the body remains invisible on water surface.  Rokoze water body...

Hon Oguzu Lee Denis Drags to Court, Maracha Constituency MP-Elect Uhuru Nelson and Electoral Commission.

Story by Osuta Yusuf.  Maracha District 6-April-2026. Following the 15-1-2026 general election, the two term MP for Maracha Constituency, Hon Oguzu Lee Denis has dragged to court the Winner for Maracha Constituency MP election, Uhuru Nelson as the first respondent and Election Commission as the second respondent.  📸: Copy of the court document shared in NEWS PLATFORM, one of the WhatsApp groups in WestNile region. In a document dated 1-April-2026 filed at Arua High Court, it's not yet clear which grounds the petitioner, Hon Oguzu Lee Denis has used to challenge the victory of the NRM Party candidate Uhuru Nelson.  It should be noted that, the NRM Party candidate Uhuru Nelson was declared the winner of the 15-1-2026 general election after he garnered 13,696 votes, followed by Independent candidate Obeta Moses Drakua who garnered 9,247 votes, the incumbent MP Hon Oguzu Lee Denis (FDC) fell in the third position after he got 3,290 votes, Eng. Aguta Sam (Independent) got 686...