Tartan Bill

[Sketraw]

The New Tartan Bill has now been passed by the Scottish Government contents of the bill can be found in PDF by Clicking Here

[Jock Scot]

Oh good.

[hospitaller]

I wonder what is this going to do to the STA now that there is a 'government' official Tartan Register?

[Dirk Skene]

Thanks for the heads up & the link I downloaded it. Of course is does not effect most kilt wearers, but for guys like me that are official reps of their clan it is good stuff to stay on top of.

[Phogfan86]

After all these years, why does the government need to get into the tartan registry business now?

[cajunscot]

After all these years, why does the government need to get into the tartan registry business now?

Read this article on Matt Newsome's blog:

http://kiltmaker.blogspot.com/search/label/sta

Regards,

Todd

[ChattanCat]

I wonder if the Scottish Tartans Authority will be the keeper...

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

I wonder how much all of this "cultural protection" will cost the Scottish tax payer? Probably less than moving MQS back to the country she was run out of would cost. But not much less.

[Sketraw]

I wonder how much all of this "cultural protection" will cost the Scottish tax payer? Probably less than moving MQS back to the country she was run out of would cost. But not much less.

I think a lot of the mechanics of the Tartan Register may well be in place already through 'Scotlands People' (online database) at New Register House. We have seen by the introduction of The Public Register of all Arms Scotland, which went online a week ago, that they are charging £10 a pop to view & download a Grant of Arms from the Register from 1672 - 1909. Some of the early grants from 1672 for example are mere recordings of a few lines with later grants being on 2 pages, one with the artwork the other with the text, either still costs £10 to view.

So what I am trying to get at, is how much Scotlands People are going to charge to view the entries in the New Tartan Register and how much are they going to charge to record a 'new tartan'.

I do believe, as pointed out in Matt's Blog, that the STA database is going to be used as a foundation for the new Register.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Interesting... who (or what) is "Scotland's People"? and secondly, I would presume that the statutory fee to register a tartan (which will require something akin to "blazon", ie: a thread count) will be more than ten pounds? And, since the government will be using the STA data base (which is protected by copyright) am I wrong in thinking that some sort of fee will be paid to STA for the use of their material?

Okay, this was really a three part question...

Not that I really care all that much about the cost to the tax payer as (1) I am out of the UK tax net and (2) the cost will pale into insignificance if compared to the Spanish-designed and German-built building across the way from Holyrood Palace. That said, the basic idea of protecting "tartan design" is a good one. It's just the mechanism of that protection that I question.