After 30 years of asserting a copyright over them, I have released the McCandlish/McCandless tartans into the public domain (no longer copyrighted), as of 9 May 2023.
The establishment of the Scottish Register of Tartans (SRT) – and the fact that the textile industry takes it seriously – obviates any further need to protect the designs from being usurped for some other name or organization. The tartans’ entries in the SRT are no longer flagged as “restricted” or requiring any kind of permission.
This should make it much easier to get McCandlish tartan woven and kilts made.
It’s also “future-proof”. With the tartans formerly marked as copyright-restricted in SRT, weavers were demanding proof of permission to do the weaving. But if I were to die, then that permission would forever be unobtainable. Now that’s no longer a concern.
Vendors on the Web and at Highland games events are now also free to make and sell McCandlish-tartan items without any hindrance.