Jam, jute and... just a minute: Swindler moves to trademark Tayside motto
Conman bids to claim city’s slogan
It is the famous motto that became the calling card of one of Scotland’s proudest cities.
But now a fraudster is trying to copyright Dundee’s epithet “jute, jam and journalism” celebrating the Tayside city’s exports.
Conman Christopher Ireland was jailed after swindling individuals and companies in Tayside out of tens of thousands of pounds.
Now he has applied to trademark his latest Dundee-based venture with the Intellectual Property Office in London (IPO).
The “independent hospitality business” Jute, Jam and Journalism Group would have sole use of the name.
Yesterday Mr Ireland, 37, who was jailed for a year in April 2012 after swindling suppliers out of almost £50,000, said: “No one else has trademarked it in all the time it has been in existence.
“There isn’t really any hospitality and retail that is using the term.”
In his application, Mr Ireland, who gives a former council home as his address, asks for exclusive use of the title Jute, Jam & Journalism for adverts, posters, hospitality services, training, accommodation and food and drink.
IPO guidelines state applicants must wait up to three months to find out if they are successful: “When we accept a trademark application we advertise it in our online journal. There is then a two-month period – extendable to three months – in which parties may oppose its registration.”
In March 2017, the UK Government’s Insolvency Service announced Mr Ireland was disqualified from serving as a company director for seven years. Scotboys Group plc had gone into compulsory liquidation on September 22, 2015 with a deficiency to creditors of £52,106. Mr Ireland was sole director of Scotboys Group plc at that time.
Yesterday, Mr Ireland insisted the ban was voluntary. “It is a ban, but I didn’t go to court for it. If I did not voluntarily agree it would have gone to court.”
According to the Jute, Jam and Journalism Group’s website, “Christopher has got all his licences.”
The site also claims the firm will reopen the historic Camperdown House as a “bespoke, boutique eightbedroom hotel, wedding venue, restaurant and bar”.
It also lists bars, restaurants, hotels and investments as among its brands.
Last year Dundee City Council advertised the 19th Century mansion and golf course as a development opportunity.
Mr Ireland said his backers’ names – one from the US and two from the UK – were confidential. “I am in the process of buying properties at the moment,” he said. “I put in for a number of different venues like pubs, bars, hotels, stuff like that. I am involved with the council just now to open up Camperdown House. I have got all the emails.”
Dundee City Council said: “We are continuing to market the property.
“Anyone wanting to lease the property would need to demonstrate adequate funding and a robust business plan.”