Whisky distilled and matured in Switzerland’s Berner Oberland region was passed off as Scotch until the trade body behind Scotland’s national drink stepped in to have the product withdrawn.
And in another ongoing matter involving legal eagles at the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), a Chinese firm is the target of moves to stop “Scotch” being sold under a phonetic representation of how someone in his country might pronounce “Scotland”.
These are just two examples from the recent work of SWA’s legal affairs department and highlighted in the organisation’s 2015/16 annual review.
The first case involved the sale in Switzerland of a Swiss whisky described as “Swiss Highland Single Malt”.
SWA objected to the use of the word “Highland” to describe whisky distilled and matured in the Berner Oberland, one of the administrative regions of the Bern canton.
Following the institution of proceedings in the Swiss Courts, SWA engineered a settlement resulting in the cancellation of trade marks and a phased withdrawal of the fake Scottish drink.
SWA is still waiting to hear if it has been successful in its efforts to have the Chinese company behind “Scolen” struck off.
Scolen is a phonetic representation of how a Chinese person might pronounce “Scotland” and there are several references to Speyside and Edinburgh on the packaging.
UK Speyside Wine Group, a Scottish registered company with an office address in Edinburgh, is named on the label despite having no connection to the product.
The whisky itself has been analysed and identified as non-aged spirit.
Scolen’s Shenzhen-based producer and its sole director have ignored an injunction preventing them from passing off the product as Scotch, and they were also ordered to change the brand name.
SWA said 19 such legal battles for were successfully resolved last year, while 22 new proceedings have brought the number of ongoing cases to 60.
David Frost, the trade body’s chief executive, said: “One of our main roles is to safeguard Scotch whisky around the world.
“A lot of that work involves the fight against the sale of products falsely described as Scotch whisky, or labelled to look like Scotch, when they are not.
“We take court proceedings and work with governments in markets around the world to crack down on the sale of fakes.
“In China, for example, we have an excellent relationship with the authorities and this has led to successes.”
Scotch whisky has “geographical indication” status, meaning it must be produced in Scotland in accordance with UK law from water, cereals and yeast, and matured for at least three years.
SWA, which boasts of good links with international enforcement agencies such as Interpol and Europol, also monitors trademark applications worldwide with a view to identifying suspect brands at an early stage.
The trade body raised objections to in excess of 200 trademark applications in more than 50 countries last year, bringing the number of current cases to around 500.
