Few people in Mauritius know who Ralph Lauren is. Even fewer have ever seen a picture of the American billionaire designer. Yet thousands of workers make a living producing or retailing garments bearing his trademark in an almost legal way. His world famous name and no less famous logo of a ?polo player on horseback? are displayed by hundreds in town and village shops.

In these luxurious precincts, tourists grab everything from high quality shirts to slips, from skirts to neckties, embroidered with the prestigious logo. A bonanza for some 100 local businesses. All this could soon be over.

The Supreme Court will decide today if the ?polo player on horseback? logo is the private property of Ralph Lauren. If the judge decides so, it will spell disaster for some 11,000 workers. Stocks of garments worth Rs 800 million may be seized and destroyed by the anti-piracy unit.

Manufacturers and resellers are requesting a moratorium to enable them to shift production though they believe shifting production will not get them any-where. ?Take a gunny bag, make a shirt of it, embroider ?the polo player on horse back? logo and place the Ralph Lauren label. You sell it immediately to tourists. But if you take the most expensive fabric money can buy, make a high quality shirt without a well-known logo or trade mark, you will have to wear it yourself. It will never be sold?, says Sudheer Mudhoo who works for a company running five Ralph Lauren shops.

Ralph Lauren has made it clear it will not allow production of its clothes under licence in Mauritius. No manufacturer or shop selling Ralph Lauren has the right to import them duty free for tourists.

But why this obsession with Ralph Lauren? Why not Versace, Hugo Boss, Lacoste or Yves Saint Laurent? Simply because local manufacturers firmly believe they were producing under Ralph Lauren?s legal trademark within the law. The whole saga is the spin-off of a blunder by Customs in 1992 when Aurdally Brothers registered the Ralph Lauren trademark and logo under their name.

Ralph Lauren was unknown in Mauritius until 1995 when Ajay Bhikoo, director of Captain Tasman, entered the scene. He started producing Ralph Lauren garments under licence from Aurdally Bros. Licences were also sold to other garment makers. Factory shops mushroomed and finally, Ralph Lauren sent a representative and started to sue.

In 2000, amidst a judicial shambles, government stroke out Ralph Lauren from the trademark register. No one, not even Ralph Lauren, had hen ceforth any rights on the trademark. More manufacturers joined the profitable band-wagon, which might come to a halt today.