‘Patitapabana’, ‘Ananda Bajara’ & ‘Nilachakara’ now intellectual property of Puri temple

Bhubaneswar: A day after West Bengal govt agreed to drop the “dham” word from the Jagannath temple at Digha, Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) said on Wednesday that it has secured wordmarks for two words associated with the Jagannath Temple in Puri, and a logomark for its logo from Indian trade marks registry.Chief administrator of Jagannath Temple in Puri, Arvind Kumar Padhee, said wordmarks have been granted for ‘Ananda Bajara’ and ‘Patitapabana’. Further, the official SJTA ‘Nilachakara’ logo has also received approval, he added.“In order to protect the unique spiritual, cultural and institutional identity of the 12 -- century shrine — the Mula Pitha or origin of the Trinity — the SJTA had applied for wordmarks and logomarks for 29 words and logos, which are integral to the shrine, before the registry,” he said.These two words and logo are now registered in the trademark registry of Intellectual Property (IP) India.As per the legal provisions under the Trade Marks Act of 1999, reusing a wordmark is legally prohibited if it is identical or deceptively similar to an existing registered mark, or if it causes confusion or deception among the public for similar goods and services. Similarly, under Indian Intellectual Property law, reusing or copying a registered logomark without permission is strictly prohibited. Within the country, the office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks administers these prohibitions.Padhee said the remaining 26 applications are at present in advanced stages of examination and consideration. “We are hopeful of a positive outcome as all evidence about the words and identifiers have been submitted with applications,” he said, adding these registrations represent an important step towards safeguarding the heritage, authenticity and intellectual property associated with Lord Jagannath and the sacred traditions of the temple.This decision to seek legal protection for all words associated with the shrine was last year approved by the temple managing committee after West Bengal went ahead with naming the Digha Jagannath temple as ‘Jagannath Dham’.