Skip to main content

Taj Mahal Palace becomes first privately owned hotel in India to receive trademark registration

In a first, The Indian Hotels Company Limited has been granted protection for the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai by the Registrar of Trademarks as an image mark.

The over-100-year-old hotel, and one of the most recognisable buildings in the country, Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai has become the first privately owned hotel in India to receive trademark protection for its architectural design. The hotel joins a rarified club of iconic buildings around the world that have been accorded trademark protection, including the Empire State Building in New York and the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Registration proceedings were completed in seven months.

Special mention must be made of Rajendra Misra, General Counsel, Indian Hotels Company Limited, for his vision to protect the image of this revered property, and safeguard it from misappropriation. Rajendra Misra explained his thinking succinctly, “One look at that property and you know it is the Taj. We don’t even need a signboard over there…that’s exactly what a trademark is.”

Read more.

The firm has handled several firsts, including protecting the first sound mark and colour marks in India.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkD6NaEJhoo

Most Recent

News & Insights

VIEW ALL
News & Updates
Dec 05, 2025

The High Court of Delhi in a significant interim ruling, “AB SKF vs M/S PARAMOUNT BEARING CO. & ORS.”, CS(COMM) 963/2025, dated 19/11/2025 has clarified

Distinction Between Order 38, Rule 5 and Order 39, Rules 1-2 CPC in the Context of “Maintenance of Status Quo”
News & Updates
Nov 26, 2025

Authored by Pravin Anand There are areas of intellectual property law where one can sense, quite literally, the convergence of disciplines that do not

When Art Meets Science in Trademark Law: Reflections on India’s First Smell Mark
Thought Leadership
Nov 25, 2025

First published on Lexology. Authored by Vaishali R Mittal In a landmark moment for Indian intellectual property law, the Trademarks Registry has accepted

Scenting the Future: How India’s First Smell Mark Application Aligns with Global Jurisprudence
Thought Leadership
Nov 21, 2025

We are proud to share that the Trade Marks Registry of India has, for the first time, accepted an olfactory (smell) mark for advertisement — “Floral

A Landmark First for Indian Trademark Law