Bhubaneswar: Puri’s Jagannath Temple has secured intellectual property protection for three distinctive names and identities associated with the 12th-century shrine, an SJTA statement said Tuesday.
The names that got the recognition for publication by the Trade Marks Registry were ‘Shree Mandira’ (in classes 19 and 45), ‘Ratna Bhandar’ (in classes 14 and 45), and ‘Shree Nahar’ (in class 19), SJTA (Shree Jagannath Temple Administration) chief administrator Arabinda Padhee said in the statement.
The temple administration had earlier applied for protection of 29 names and items associated with the Jagannath Temple and its culture. Of those, the SJTA has so far been able to get recognition for 11, including three Tuesday.
In the first phase, three applications — ‘Ananda Bajara’, ‘Patitapabana’ and the ‘Nilachakra’ logo — were approved by the Trade Marks Registry.
In the second phase, five more applications, including ‘Jagannath Dham’, ‘Shree Kshetra’, ‘Mahaprasada’, ‘Nilachakra’ and ‘Koili Vaikuntha’, were accepted for publication, Padhee said.
“We wish to protect the unique spiritual, cultural and institutional heritage associated with the Jagannath Temple and prevent unauthorised or inappropriate commercial use of names and identities closely connected with the Shree Mandira,” Padhee said.
He said the SJTA will continue to pursue the remaining trademark applications and take all necessary steps for securing appropriate intellectual property protection for the sacred and distinctive heritage associated with the Jagannath Temple.
Earlier, the Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee (SJTMC), headed by Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb, had said that certain individuals and organisations were using sacred names and symbols associated with Lord Jagannath for commercial purposes.
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To curb such misuse, the SJTMC decided to seek trademark protection for terms and symbols closely linked to Jagannath tradition and authorised the chief administrator to initiate the registration process.
Sources, meanwhile, said the Centre’s Intellectual Property India has sought detailed information on 18 more terms associated with the 12th-century shrine.
“We are optimistic about securing patents for those as well,” an official said.
Securing trademarks for key words related to the temple is seen as a major milestone after the removal of the word ‘dham’ from the name of the Jagannath Temple in West Bengal’s Digha.
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