Gold Bros sued for using Isle of Skye tartan without permission

[Ayin McFye]

Do I sense that people are taking glee at the misfortune of others most deserving?

In German we have a word for that. It's called Schadenfreude. It's one of my favorite words ever. I think it's just awesome that there is a word that means "The malicious enjoyment of other's misfortune".

[Colin]

In German we have a word for that. It's called Schadenfreude. It's one of my favorite words ever. I think it's just awesome that there is a word that means "The malicious enjoyment of other's misfortune".

Except that they are deserving of this, as is any other company that knowingly violates a copyright or license (in a different country or not). I am glad someone is taking a stand and protecting their property rights. Why should some follow the rules while others take an easy route and show total disregard to those that designed the tartan, own the rights, or pay royalties. The good guys shouldn't fund the bad ones.

The same thing happened with the Irish National a few years ago. A few ebayers copied the design and sold it as Bright Irish, or National Irish, etc,etc. It was the same tartan only with the name tweaked. It fooled no one and I believe the company that owns the name and tartan eventually went after these firms. Thank goodness for people like Jerry at Stillwater kilts for getting the rights to produce and sell the Irish National tartan. He has shown that you can still offer a sought after tartan at an affordable rate and in alternative materials with respect and without having to rip someone else off to make a few bucks.

[JerseyLawyer]

I am sure that sellers of the legitimate product will be rubbing their hands with glee

I wouldn't be surprised at all if the information was passed along to the proper parties by someone in the kilt biz.

[RockyR]

Locharron claims to be the only mill licensed to produce Isle of Skye, but I thought Marton Mills produced it too...

I wonder if other companies could get in trouble for using counterfeit tartan?

MM DOES produce it (in 11, 13 AND 16 oz and has done it in PV as well) and they DO pay royalties on it. The material is 2 GBP / M higher on the IOS tartan than any other MM tartan. I think the article was incorrect.

That being said... I don't think there's any other mills aside from MM and Lochcarron who have permission.

[jmercier]

To my knowledge it's just Marton Mills and Lochcarron. I'm having my IoS kilt being created right now from 13oz MM woven IoS tartan. I've actually had to wait because the IoS was so popular that they needed to wait on more fabric from MM to be able to create it.

[ChattanCat]

So how do you know if a tartan is patented? It seems that after 17 years, at least in the US, patents run out. Is this true for the rest of the kilted?

[McMurdo]

So how do you know if a tartan is patented? It seems that after 17 years, at least in the US, patents run out. Is this true for the rest of the kilted?

The Isle of Skye was first woven and patented in 1992 making the patent 15 years old, I suppose if it is the same we will find out in a couple of years.

All I can say about the article is it looks good on them

[McClef]

So how do you know if a tartan is patented? It seems that after 17 years, at least in the US, patents run out. Is this true for the rest of the kilted?

Here in the UK you can renew for up to 20 years - http://www.ipo.gov.uk/patent/p-manag...enew-renew.htm

But it gets more expensive to do so.

[SteveB]

If the magistrates favor the plaintiff in the United Kingdom, the Gold Brothers could also face sanctions, and fines if ANY of the unlawfully produced merchandise has moved in international commerce. One of those cases could be the movement of the goods from the country of manufacture to Scotland. The International Trade Court of the United Nations could have a field day. The only area that has not been successful all the time is "intellectual property" as it has nothing that is physical that can be brought before the court. The "tartan" fabric and foreign manufacture of the material will be an easy piece of evidence against them.
There are many "Gold Bros." businesses all over the world. Maybe if one or two of them get hit hard enough, the quality will go up.

[ForresterModern]

According to the tartan finder at kiltstore.net the IOS modern tartan is available in 16oz and 10oz from Lochcarron, 13oz, 10.5oz and 8oz from Marton Mills, or can be custom woven to order in 16-11oz weights in wool or 3oz silk from Glen Affric weavers.