A SMALL conservatory firm has been forced to change its name after being sued by the world-famous Gleneagles Hotel.
The five-star resort near Auchterarder, Perthshire, took businessman Ian Ross to court in a bid to make him rebrand his Gleneagles Conservatories company.
Hotel bosses accused Mr Ross of infringing their trademark, devaluing their brand and duplicating their logo without permission.
Mr Ross, of Tullibody, Clackmannanshire, claimed Gleneagles is a geographical location, meaning no firm should have exclusive rights to use of the name.
He had planned to take on the hotel at the Court of Session but has reached an out-of-court settlement after spending £25,000 in legal fees on the case.
The 63-year-old said he was saddened to have to change the name of the company. It is now called Aspire Conservatories and the logo is a butterfly.
He said: "It was a bit of a body blow to have to rebrand the company in a tough economic climate. We have lost work out of it."
This year the hotel failed in an attempt to have £68,000 of Gleneagles Conservatories' cash frozen.
Mr Ross said: "I am shocked at the lengths they have gone to. They don't supply conservatories and they can't have a monopoly on the name of a place. I'm trying to run a business."
Gleneagles Hotel did not comment.
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