Taj Mahal Palace of Mumbai has just got itself trademarked. The hotel which has been a defining structure of Mumbai has now joined the league of trademarked properties in the world which includes the Empire State Building of New York, the Eiffel Tower in Paris and Opera House of Sydney. It makes itself the first old building of India to get such a registration. Usually logos, brand names are trademarked but the registration of an architectural design has never been attempted since the Trademark Act came into force in 1999.
While making this announcement Rajendra Misra who runs the Taj Mahal Palace said, nowadays most of the hotels are the cookie- cutters, which are not designed differently. In that case, to protect the distinctiveness of the building we have taken this step. This property is the flagship of the company contributing a significant portion to its Rs 2,391 crore revenues”.
Before trademarking of the building, couple of stores sell merchandise with the hotel’s pictures on them. Now nobody can use Taj Palace’s image for commercial purposes without paying the license fee to the company.