Puri: Setting a new milestone, Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has achieved a major success in protecting the sacred traditions and heritage of the 12th century shrine in Odisha’s Puri.
According to Chief Administrator of SJTA Arabinda Padhee, five more trademark applications have been approved for publication in the upcoming journal following the second stage examination of the registration process.
The trademark applications for “Jagannath Dham,” “Shri Kshetra,” “Mahaprasad,” “Neelachakra,” and “Koili Baikuntha” have been approved for publication in the upcoming Trademark Journal following the second stage of examination, Padhee said in a post on X.
The latest approvals have been secured after the SJTA obtained trademark registrations last month for the wordmarks “Ananda Bajara” and “Patitapabana”, along with the logomark registration of the Nilachakra logo under the Trade Marks Act.
SJTA officials said the move was prompted by concerns that certain individuals and organisations were using sacred names and symbols associated with Lord Jagannath for commercial purposes.
To curb such misuse, the temple’s managing body decided to seek trademark protection for terms and symbols closely linked to the Jagannath tradition and authorised the Chief Administrator to initiate the registration process.
The administration had applied for trademark registration of 29 names, terms and symbols connected with the Jagannath tradition.
Following the latest achievement, approval for 21 more terms associated with the 12th-century shrine is expected soon. The Intellectual Property India has sought detailed information on these terminologies. We are optimistic about securing patent for those terms too, said officials.
Securing trademarks for key terms relating to Srimandir are seen as a major win for Odisha after the removal of the word “Dham” from Digha Jagannath Temple signage. The West Bengal government had last month initiated the process.
In May last year, the Odisha government decided to secure trademark rights to prevent misuse of certain words and logos associated with the Puri temple for commercial purposes by certain individuals and institutions amid a feud with Bengal over naming of the newly-built temple in Digha as ‘Jagannath dham’. The SJTA chief administrator was authorised to take the necessary steps. The terms sought to be shielded included ‘Jagannath dham’, ‘Srimandir’, ‘Purushottam Kshetra’, ‘Neelachal Dham’, ‘Bada Danda’, ‘Mahaprasad’ and ‘Neela chakra’, among others.
