News / Tiff over teddy bears
A SKIRMISH has broken out in Shetland over the name of alocal teddy bear company.
Yorkshire-born businesswoman Gillian Ramsay has written to rival teddy bear maker Wendy Inkster threatening legal action if she continues to use the name Shetland Teddy Bear Company.
The move comes months after Mrs Ramsay trademarked the name, having already won a patent row with supermarket giant Asda over the name Puffin Poo for her confectionary.
Mrs Inkster started making her teddy bears in 1997 when she sewed together an old Fair Isle jumper to make a gift for her sister’s wedding.
It was so popular that orders started coming in thick and fast and soon she had set up Burra Bears, named after the island on which she lives.
Now she sells around 40 bears a week through shops in Shetland and the rest of Scotland, employing three home workers to keep up with demand. Having run out of old jumpers she is now having Fair Isle knitwear specially made up for her.
For six years Mrs Inkster supplied Mrs Ramsay’s craft shops, which have been based in various locations around Lerwick.
By September 2006 demand had grown so much that Mrs Inkster was unable to supply bears to Mrs Ramsay’s Shetland Fudge Company and other shops in the run up to Christmas.
The following January Mrs Ramsay started selling her own teddy bears under the name The Shetland Teddy Bear Company.
Worried about the impact on her business, Mrs Inkster registered four internet domain names using the terms Shetland Teddy Bears and Shetland Teddy Bear Company, which redirected customers to the Burra Bears website.
Now however Mrs Ramsay has trademarked the name The Shetland Teddy Bear Company and written to Mrs Inkster, giving her 28 days to remove any reference to the name from any websites or literature linked to Burra Bears.
She concludes: “I have no axe to grind with you personally, and have enough to keep me busy without taking on another lengthy court case, but you should be in no doubt that we will take all steps necessary to protect our brand.”
When contacted, Mrs Ramsay said she had trademarked The Shetland Teddy Bear Company name only after spending four years fighting Asda for control of the name Puffin Poo.
She said she had no problem with Mrs Inkster using the terms Shetland Teddy Bears or The Original Shetland Teddy Bear, which appears on all Burra Bears’ labels, she just wanted to protect the name The Shetland Teddy Bear Company.
“She was probably not really aware of this trademark so we have politely brought it to her attention and asked her to stop using it. If she doesn’t she’s breaking trademark law and I think the patents office would get involved there. I have not looked into it because I assume she has no reason to use that trademark,” Mrs Ramsay said.
Mrs Inkster said she had spoken to a lawyer about the matter and believed she had done nothing wrong.
“I was shocked to receive this letter and the tone of it made me realise I had no choice but to seek legal advice,” she said.
“I have now written to Gillian denying any infringement of the trademark and I hope we can leave it at that.”
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