My hometown new tartan

[mkmound]

Beautiful tartan . . . can't wait to see pics of you in a kilt made up from it!

[Kilted-Marine]

If I am not mistaken-which i often am but the Court of Lord Lyon has nothing officially to do with registering tartans-
The Court of the Lord Lyon is the heraldic authority for Scotland.
It deals with all matters relating to Scottish Heraldry and Coats of Arms and maintains the Scottish Public Registers of Arms and Genealogies.
The Lord Lyon King of Arms is also responsible for State Ceremonial in Scotland.

The Scottish Tartans Authority on the other hand maintains a registery of tartans-but getting it registered does not offer any copyright or trademark protection.

[Phil]

If I am not mistaken-which i often am but the Court of Lord Lyon has nothing officially to do with registering tartans-
The Court of the Lord Lyon is the heraldic authority for Scotland.
It deals with all matters relating to Scottish Heraldry and Coats of Arms and maintains the Scottish Public Registers of Arms and Genealogies.
The Lord Lyon King of Arms is also responsible for State Ceremonial in Scotland.

The Scottish Tartans Authority on the other hand maintains a registery of tartans-but getting it registered does not offer any copyright or trademark protection.

Here is an article by a patents & trademarks attorney which should explain the position
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1150842007
You will see that there really is no legal protection for any tartans.

[Kilted-Marine]

The Tartan colors themselves are not and can not be protected.but the name of the tartan can be protected or trademarked and if you were caught selling the taran under that name..you could be sued. or if it was found you were selling a tartan that was materially the same as one that was protected you could be sued.
The California state tartan was trademarket at one time BUT somebody filed to have the trademark removed and it was granted. the trademark is now dead
A corporate tartan would be easy to enforce-say if coke cola had a corporate tartan.
registering just allows others to see them and is a permanent record of them. to get a trademark you must file with the uspto
just adding a (c) mark does nothing and registering them really offers no protection

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Different countries will have different copyright laws, so all I can speak for is here in the US (and really even then I'm not a copyright lawyer). But from what I understand, and I have spoken with someone in the US Copyright Office about this, tartans can most certainly be copyrighted in this country, and you don't need to do anything special or register them anywhere for a design to be copyrighted.

A new tartan design that you create is intellectual property. Same thing as if you composed a song, painted a picture, designed a dress, or anything else creative like that. You designed it, it is unique, and therefore the design belongs to you. In the US, at least, and I imagine most other western countries, this automatically gives you copyright over the design.

The problem comes in proving that you have copyright in a court of law, should the situation arise where that copyright is challenged. This is where the "recording" of the design comes into play. When you have your "whatever-it-is" recorded by the US Copyright office, for instance, this does not "give" you a copyright. However, it provides a record that you are the originator of the design and that you designed it at a certain date. Therefore it becomes easier to prove that you own the copyright.

Having the tartan recorded by the Scottish Tartans Authority would provide a similar record, that you designed the tartan on such-and-such a date.

Basically it comes down to this: If you design a tartan, you have the copyright automatically. But can you prove it if you needed to? Providing that proof is where the various recording bodies come into play.

If you do a search on the forum for the "Maine tartan" you'll see where this issue came up previously. Also, see my April 2007 Scottish Banner column on tartan copyright and restrictions:
http://www.albanach.org/restricted.htm

[gilmore]

Here is an article by a patents & trademarks attorney which should explain the position
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1150842007
You will see that there really is no legal protection for any tartans.

That just not at all accurate. Did you read all of the story, including this?:

<<<But Campbell Newell, an Edinburgh-based partner of patent and trademark attorneys Marks and Clerk, said: "There is nothing wrong in principle with a tartans register. But it will be no more than that - a register of tartans. Registering a tartan will be optional. There will be no legal requirement or protection and there is nothing in such a register to protect [against] plagiarism or the copying of a tartan.

"We have to question what it is all about. To get full protection you have to register the design as a registered design with the UK Intellectual Property Office [The Patent Office], which will protect it for up to 25 years.

"Similar protection is available in the European Community and the name of the tartan can also be registered as a trademark."

...

An Executive spokesman said yesterday: "There is a broad consensus behind the idea of a register and we will bring forward proposals in due course.

"Obviously that does not preclude individuals, businesses and organisations taking their own steps to protect their intellectual property.">>>