Ban on 'Queen's tartan' sales over breach of copyright law

Published on Wednesday 2 July 2008 22:27

THE Queen once showcased it to the world, but a court heard yesterday that the world was being subjected to "cheap and poor-quality" imitations of the Isle of Skye tartan.

Websites and a chain of souvenir shops across Scotland were selling kilts, scarves and other goods using the design on cloth from China, a judge was told.

A raid on a warehouse in Fife had revealed hundreds of metres of the cloth, and it was suspected other evidence had been hurriedly removed during a delay in starting the search.

At the court of Session in Edinburgh yesterday, Lady Dorrian granted an interim interdict to Rosemary Samios, who holds copyright in the Isle of Skye tartan, against Gold Brothers, banning the firm from making, marketing, importing or exporting goods made in the design.

The firm is operated by Surinder, Galab and Dildar Singh, of Edinburgh.

The court heard that Mrs Samios, who has connections with Skye but lives in Australia, acquired rights in the tartan from a weaver, Angus McLeod, in 1992. She had enjoyed "considerable commercial success" granting licences to manufacturers, and the tartan's popularity was boosted when the Queen wore it for the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999.

Lawyers for Mrs Samios, who is also claiming 150,000 damages, said she was tipped off that wool scarves in the Isle of Skye design and described as "Skye Isles" tartan were being sold in the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, by Gold Brothers.

The firm, based in Kirkcaldy, Fife, has several shops in Edinburgh, as well as Glasgow, Callander, Pitlochry and St Andrews. It also operates websites, and trades as Heritage of Scotland, John Morrisons, Clans of Scotland and the Scottish Shop.

A licence cost an initial 12,000, with 10 per cent royalties payable.

Inquiries had established that Gold Brothers was also selling "Skye Isles" and "Bright Skye" scarves, rugs, kilts and hats.

It was alleged the firm had imported from China substantial amounts of cloth in the Isle of Tartan design, and Mrs Samios complained of serious damage to the reputation of the genuine tartan by "its application to cheap products of inferior design, quality and materials".

Lady Dorrian was told that a search of the Gold Brothers warehouse in Kirkcaldy had recovered items including four 80m bales of Chinese-made cloth, enough to make around 160 of the "poor-quality" kilts sold by the firm. The bales had been numbered 55, 57, 58 and 59, suggesting the firm had possessed at least another 54 bales, enough to make more than 9,000 kilts.

&#149 Printing any tartan design without a licence is an infringement of copyright law. The register of tartans bill, to be considered by MSPs in September, aims to collate the thousands of registered designs.

Price is right for cut-price gifts, say Gold Brothers

MOST visitors to Edinburgh's Royal Mile are unlikely to miss the "tartan tat" shops scattered along the capital's most famous thoroughfare.

Few will realise they are mainly owned by the one family of Indian businessmen.

To many of the capital's business figures they have ruined the Royal Mile with their cut-price clothes and novelty gifts such as "See You Jimmy" hats and Nessie toys.

Yet they have proudly defended their controversial brand of "kitsch" clothing, insisting that they are merely giving tourists what they want at the right price.

The multi-million pound empire run by brothers Malap, Surinder, Galab and nephew Dildar Singh – who trade under the name Gold Brothers – has humble beginnings.

The brothers' father, Garbuchen, started the business with a single market stall at East Fortune, in East Lothian, in the early 1970s. But the empire now includes at least 20 shops in Edinburgh city centre, as well as three in Fife.

However, they have become the btes noires of many other businesses trading on the Royal Mile.

Geoffrey Nicholsby, a kiltmaker who has fitted out the likes of Charlton Heston and Mel Gibson, claimed the shops were guilty of "cultural rape".

Both the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Small Businesses have urged the city council to intervene over the "tartan tat" shops on the Royal Mile.

The strongest critics include the Scottish Tartan Authority, which claims the Royal Mile looks "like an Eastern bazaar".