Aged 15 years, victory over Italian ‘scotch’

Whisky industry f inally secures fake-dram ban

WHISKY bosses have won a 15-year legal battle against an Italian businessman who tried to sell fake scotch to Scotland.

Antonio Di Cicco produced bottles of Scottish Swordsman and Scottish Piper from his distillery in the Amalfi coast town of Villa Santa Maria.

A court heard the bottles ‘made explicit reference to Scotch whisky with the use of the words whisky, Scottish and Highlands as well as typically Scottish figurative elements including tartan, a bagpipe player and a dancer in Scottish dress and heraldry’.

The Scotch Whisky Association trade body began an investigation in 2001, and bottles were brought to its laboratory for testing.

Not only were they found not to contain Scotch, but the drink could not even be classed as whisky under EU law. It contained a neutral, un-aged spirit with artificial flavouring. The SWA appealed to the Court of Lanciano, near the distillery, then the premises were raided.

The authorities seized documents showing the drink had been brazenly exported to countries including the UK using ‘falsified documents’, the SWA said. It went back to the court and won damages worth £95,000 and an order to cease production.

However, Di Cicco appealed twice, first to the Court of Appeal in L’Aquila, central Italy, which upheld the original decision in 2013, and then to the Italian Supreme Court.

Di Cicco claimed he had asked and obtained authorisation from Polini, the supplier of the alcohol used in the drinks, to give them Scottish-sounding names. But Polini showed it had sold a product to Di Cicco that he ‘knew perfectly well was not Scotch whisky’, the judgment said.

Now, after 15 years, the case has been decided in the SWA’s favour, although the damages were reduced to £25,000 and then only £8,400.

‘The behaviour of Di Cicco was conceived to confuse the product with real scotch whisky… leading the buyer to have the impression they were buying the real thing,’ the judgment said. Lindesay Low, senior legal counsel at the Scotch Whisky Association, said: ‘Although we have had to wait a long time, we welcome the decision of the court which sends a clear message to counterfeiters.

‘Fake Scotch not only deceives consumers, but also harms legitimate producers who, over many years, have made Scotch whisky into one of the world’s leading spirit drinks.’