Burness elicits apology from fashion retailer Zara in Harris Tweed IP dispute
Scottish firm Burness has forced retail giant Zara to apologise for misusing the Harris Tweed trademark.
Earlier this year Zara’s internet trading arm ITX Fashion was selling a product on its website described, but not labelled as, a ‘Harris Tweed’ blazer.
The Harris Tweed Authority (HTA) instructed Burness’ head of contentious IP practice Colin Hulme to negotiate a settlement with ITX, which accepted that as the jackets had not been made from Harris Tweed, they had broken the law.
The fashion firm has made assurances that it will not happen again.
The HTA said it accepted that the incident was “not deliberate” but that it treated the use of its name without permission “with the utmost seriousness”.
It said: “Misuse of the Harris Tweed name risks diluting it and undermines the integrity of an iconic Scottish name.”
The Harris Tweed Act of 1993 ensures the name and symbol can only be used for fabric “handwoven by the islanders of Lewis, Harris, Uist and Barra in their homes, using pure virgin wool that has been dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides”.
ITX was unavailable for comment.
Readers' comments (2)
Anonymous | 21-Mar-2012 10:17 am
There is clearly no pulling to wool over the eyes of those weavers.
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Cheryl Tweedy | 22-Mar-2012 11:58 am
This is certainly very significant news. I expect to see this story on the front page of next week's print edition.
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