The founder of a major nationalist campaign group has claimed copyright of the term “ Scottish Independence Movement” for a new organisation.
Records published by the Intellectual Property Office show Mandeep Singh is now the owner of a logo including the phrase under a picture of three lions and two unicorns.
Singh was instrumental in the formation of the All Under One Banner (AUOB) movement in 2014, which has seen crowds of up to 60,000 march through Glasgow and Edinburgh.
But he left last year amid bitter infighting over claims and counter-claims of misappropriated funds.
He said: “I am forming a new movement and I wanted to copyright the logo. I am not claiming ownership of the Scottish independence movement as a whole – that belongs to everyone.
“Anyone can use it and I am happy with that but I wanted a strong new logo for this new movement.
“I have organised some events and I just want to give people a safe and inclusive environment
in which they can show their support for Scottish independence.”
But Andrew Gardner, a former director of the
All Under One Banner movement, criticised the copyright move.
He said: “I don’t think this is something that should be copyrighted – it isn’t for anyone to claim ownership of the Scottish independence movement.
“I am not sure what Mandeep is up to with this. He was heavily involved in setting up AUOB but left amid a lot of infighting.The infighting was terrible – you couldn’t control it. That is why I have stepped back, though I am still in touch with the people involved.
"Manny has tried to organise some events on his own but they have never taken off and I thought he had given up.”
Singh was suspended as operations director of AUOB last year and later left the organisation. He had accused leader Neil Mackay of demanding £140 raised at a rally in Oban be deposited in his ill mum’s account.
The money was alleged to be for walking sticks she couldn’t get on the NHS.
We previously revealed infighting over AUOB
collection buckets passed round the crowd at events and claims of a “double bucketing” operation.
A spokesman for AUOB said the organisation had “no comment to make”.
The new group being created by Singh is further evidence of splits both within the grassroots
independence movement and at a national level.
Senior SNP MP Kenny MacAskill last week appeared to back the idea of a separate independence party led by his ex-boss and close ally Alex Salmond.
