(86)  Sorley Maclean, copyright and the sale of mountains

On 11 October 2000 the estate agents Savills, which is acting for John MacLeod of MacLeod in the sale of the Black Cuillin mountain range in Skye (see below, No 80), issued a public apology to the family of the late Sorley Maclean, the great Gaelic poet, who lived in the island.  The apology concerned Savills’ unauthorised use of Maclean’s poem, “The Cuillin”, in the brochure advertising the mountains for sale.  Savills said: “We now accept that the poet may not have wished his work to have been used for this purpose.” <