St Kilda (Holdings) Ltd., the parent company of bagpipe manufacturers RG Hardie & Co., has won a court order banning the manufacture of ‘Robertsons Original Seasoning’. St Kilda obtained the interdict at a court hearing in Dundee on March 15.
The interdict bans ‘Robertsons Original Seasoning’, their agents, contractors and employees from selling, advertising seasoning packaged in a manner that closely resembles Airtight, or describing it as being associated with the original seasoning recipe of the James Robertson and/or the Robertson brand.
In a statement St Kilda said: ‘St Kilda (Holdings) Ltd., on behalf of its trading subsidiary R G Hardie & Co., has successfully obtained an interim court order against Robertsons Original Seasoning Company Ltd prohibiting Robertsons Original Seasoning Company from selling their current brand of bagpipe seasoning.
‘Any breach of this court order is a serious matter and one that may lead to contempt of court on the part of those in breach. The court order states that Robertson’s Original Seasoning Company should not be selling any seasoning in a package that so closely resembles the packaging of our Airtight seasoning, nor should they be making any claims or connections to the Robertson’s brand.
‘We have tried to resolve this issue out of court, but have been unable to do so and have had to resort to this action as we must ensure that our brand is protected, and customers are not misled. Our distinct packaging and the ‘Original’ Robertson’s seasoning recipe has been the property of Hardies since 1966, and after 50 years of sales this company now seeks to ‘pass off’ its product as our product. We cannot allow this to continue.
‘We shall pursue compliance with the court order. Robertsons Original Seasoning and/or James Robertson’s Original Seasoning in its current form should not be sold and should not be offered for sale by dealers.
‘We want to ensure that there is no confusion in the market place, and we want to protect our customers from the purchase of counterfeit products based on inaccurate statements. If any person is aware of such offers for sale please contact Alastair Dunn direct on +44 (0)141 332 0407 or email alastaird@stkildaholdings.com.’
RG Hardie’s ‘Airtight’ seasoning is the biggest selling bag seasoning on the market. The recipe for the seasoning was acquired by the company in 1966 when they bought out the Edinburgh-based bagpipe firm of James Robertson, the originators of the ‘Airtight’ brand.