The legal mystery surrounding the rights to produce a jumper modelled on the one worn by the lead character in the Danish TV show ‘The Killing’ has been resolved.

Gudrun & Gudrun, Faroese designers who created the iconic knitwear worn by detective Sarah Lund in the hit show, have lost their fight to keep a rival Danish company from selling a knock-off version of the jumper.

The designers argued that their copyright had been violated by the Stof og Sy company, which replicated the star-pattern jumper worn by the Copenhagen detective in the international hit show.

But the court sided against the Faroese designers, after the judge was convinced that the pattern is actually hundreds of years old. 

The court ruled that Stof og Sy did not violate copyright or marketing laws, and can continue to sell its version of the jumper at €50 – compared to the €310 the original costs.  

Gudrun Rógvadóttir, the owner of Gudrun & Gudrun, said she was shocked and disappointed by the court’s ruling, describing the other jumper as a "pure copy" of her work.

“This is about our – and our employees’ – livelihood and respect for the work that went into the jumpers,” she said to the Danish broadcaster, DR.

“We haven’t decided if we will take further steps in the matter.”