An old OS Landranger map with the cover of the book which, OS says, breaches its copyright

The publishers of a bawdy tale of romance and footslogging on the West Highland Way have thrown in the towel in a legal dispute with Britain’s national mapping agency.

JonesCat Publishing was accused by Ordnance Survey of breaching its copyright with the cover of The Hills Are Stuffed with Swedish Girls, a humorous account of three men’s jaunts along Scotland’s most popular long-distance trail.

The book, tagged ‘walking Scotland’s beautiful West Highland Way in search of fun and fanny’, features a cover in the style of the old OS 1:50,000 Landranger maps. Author Richard Happer said he ‘nearly fell off the bog’ after reading the lawyers’ letter that dropped on to his Edinburgh doorstep ordering him and the two-man publishing company to cease production of the book and stop using the spoof OS cover in its advertising.

Now, says Happer, the company will go out of business as it cannot afford to fight the case.

In a statement, he said: “While we believe that legally they are wrong and morally they are misguided, the bad news is that we cannot afford to contest this case any further.

“The Ordnance Survey is a Government agency and so has extensive resources with which it can pay an in-house legal team to do this sort of thing full time. JonesCat Publishing is two people and a fat ginger cat. Our only income is the profit of book sales and, unfortunately, we were forced to spend all of this on our initial legal advice.

Author Richard Happer: 'nearly fell off the bog'

“We offered the OS a creative compromise which would have increased sales of their maps, but they declined and are insisting on a full cover redesign, and the very bad news is that we can’t afford to do that either.”

Happer continued: “The first print run was 2,000 copies which cost £4,500. If we had sold them all, we might have turned over £6,000 giving us £1,000 profit, and that was a year’s work.

“When the OS wrote their letter we had sold 700 and were inching towards paying back our original start-up funding. Unfortunately the profit on all these books – around £900 – was wiped out by one legal letter from my solicitor.”

However, OS has said the existing books need not be pulped, and JonesCat Publishing can sell its small stock of the novel – which is written in diary form of its three main protagonists Fitch, Wentworth and Macrae.

Ordnance Survey said when the initial dispute surfaced: “We have a brand which is more than 200 years old and it is our job to protect the reputation of our brand.

“People are very passionate about our maps. Families use them and we have to look at our core customers and if they would be offended.”

Happer said: “I think what has been most sad is that the OS pulled on their biggest legal boots away. They knew for a fact we had only printed 2,000 copies because they mentioned it in their letter, so they knew how small we were. They knew how much going to a lawyer would cost us, so they must have realised it would effectively blow us out of the water.

“I mean, it would have been easy to write a normal letter or email or even call me – I’m not hard to find.

“When we ran out of money to pay for lawyers, I wrote to them personally with a compromise saying basically: ‘be good sports about the cover and we’ll put a huge notice up on our website saying thank you for being understanding, complete with links through to your map pages’.

“I also pointed out that the book itself mentions OS maps specifically – a wee bit of advertising for them. Many people have written to me saying they are now doing the way after reading the book, and so will be buying more maps, and that my author picture on the website has me holding an OS map.

“They point blank refused, and still wanted a full redesign. They’re publishers so they must know full well that changing the cover for a reprint is about four times as expensive as just printing more copies, so they know full well the effect it would have on us – we simply don’t have the cash to do it.”

An Ordnance Survey spokesperson said: “Our issue was with the cover design. We are not asking for the publishers to make major changes to the cover, just to change the colours for instance and we have let them sell the existing stock. There has not been a formal resolution of the matter.

“It’s about protection of the brand reputation. We are currently working with the publishers to find a solution.”

The book follows the exploits of three Edinburgh mates as they embark on the 154km (96-mile) route in pursuit of the scenic glories of Scotland and the carnal delights of young Scandinavian women.

The novel received good notices when it was published last year. It was described by one reviewer as: “It’s a bit Three Men in a Boat gone mad.”

Author Richard Happer said: “As for me, I’m a keen walker and I have whole shelves of Landranger and Explorer maps. And I will continue to buy more in future: their sense of humour might not be up to much, but their maps are excellent, and I’m not one to hold grudges!”

Ordnance Survey – of which grough is a commercial partner in its grough route system – is a trading fund wholly owned by the Government. Last year, it had profits of £16m from its turnover of £117m.

JonesCat Publishing was set up in February last year in Edinburgh.