National Trust for Scotland says Glencoe legal threat "may have been too harsh"

The National Trust for Scotland says it may have been too harsh after being accused of bullying by a small Aberdeenshire firm.

Lawyers for the National Trust threatened Hilltrek Outdoor Clothing in Aboyne with legal action over use of the name Glencoe.

It ordered the firm to stop selling its £365 Glencoe waterproof jacket immediately.

A letter to owner Dave Shand said the NTS was the "registered proprietor of the UK trademark registration" for "GLENCOE."

Lawyers for the charity, which owns most of the glen, stated: "NTS seeks to ensure that only goods and services of suppliers with geographical links to GLENCOE can bear the name GLENCOE and also to protect the interests of the local community and local trade in GLENCOE.

"NTS requires that you: 1. immediately stop selling any goods which include the name GLENCOE from your website and 2. refrain from using GLENCOE on any future products and/or packaging.''

Mr Shand, who bought Hilltrek Outdoor Clothing in 2003, said the company, which employs just three other people, had been making the jacket for between 25 and 30 years.

Hundreds of people have responded after he posted the letter on Facebook, including many NTS members threatening to cancel their membership.

Describing the moment he received the letter, Mr Shand told the Press Association: I was really angry, I just couldn't believe it. I was stunned by it.

They obviously think that Aboyne and Deeside is too far away to have a geographical connection, but I've been hill-walking in Glencoe since my late teens.

I have a connection with Glencoe and our customers have a connection with Glencoe.''

Of the jacket, he said: We don't produce huge numbers and our product is a premium product. It's not a 'See You Jimmy' hat with Glencoe on it. It's a top end product.''

Mr Shand said: I hope the NTS will approach us and we'll have some useful dialogue rather than this nonsense.

This is what I would have expected of them as an organisation - send a letter saying 'you are infringing our trademark but we'd like to know more about your product to see if it fits in with our brand'. That's what I would have expected, a reasonable approach rather than bullying.

Personally I hate bullies, so they've picked the wrong person. I'm determined to fight it.''

An NTS spokesman said: In retrospect, although the letter sent to Hilltrek was a standard one, it may have been, in the circumstances of this particular company, too harsh in tone.''

He added: Many people have been surprised that it is both possible and necessary to trademark a place name like Glencoe.

This was a surprise to us too, when an attempt was made to trademark St Kilda by a third party without our knowledge or consent, despite us owning and caring for the property.

Although we eventually came to an agreement over this, the Intellectual Property Office confirmed that the bid had been both legal and permissible.

Therefore, as a defensive measure, we ourselves have registered trademarks for some of the properties we own. We recognise that these are iconic Scottish locations and names worthy of protection.''

The spokesman continued: From the outset we have never had any intention of undermining established and new businesses trading locally to our registered properties, and we have gone out of our way to ensure they can continue trading without interruption or cost.

What we have done, after taking legal advice, is to contact a number of companies using trademarked names which are not local.

In the case of Glencoe, we have, for example, contacted businesses based in England and France over the use of the name.

Our only desire is to protect the properties in our care and stop them being exploited in ways which do not accord with our charitable purposes.

Our letter to Hilltrek was intended to open up negotiation to establish if the company had legal prior trading rights and clearly the wording and tone did not convey this.

We would be happy to enter into a dialogue with them with the aim of finding a mutually agreeable solution.'

In a Facebook post Mr Shand has written: "NTS offering us an olive branch through the press. Why have they not contacted us directly?"