By now, everyone has probably heard the story of the ‘other’ Taj – a Bangladeshi film-maker has decided to manufacture a life-size copy of the Taj Mahal, in a location just north of
The TOI edit, in fact, reminded me instantly of developments just about a year ago, when Egypt’s Supreme Antiquities Council announced plans to protect its antiquities through introducing a copyright law (of sorts). Reports pointed out that protection was intended to apply to exact scaled replicas of antiquities, i.e., someone would have to build a full-scale replica for it to be considered an infringement. Perhaps the Indian diplomatic spokesperson was reminded of the same when the statement about protecting the Taj under copyright was made.
That Egypt story was rubbished by almost everybody, for a variety of reasons. Very basically, for example, copyright grants protection for a specific period only, after which the entity in question enters and remains in the public domain. Clearly, no such principle can be applied in the case of historical monuments, the creators of which have long since passed on, and it is well entrenched in the public domain.
I think there needs to be some closure to this news as well: at least from an IPR perspective, there does not appear to be any form of protection available. It would be irresponsible of diplomats, or journalists even, to speculate upon the possibilities of demanding copyright protection for the Taj where none exists. And of course, it is ridiculous to envisage a diplomatic ‘fracas’ (as some have put it) between
It may be useful here to point out that WIPO does have its Creative Heritage Project, where it works for the preservation of intangible heritage, traditional cultural expression (TCEs)/folklore, genetic resources, and traditional knowledge. I don’t see the Taj fitting in any of these categories. However, if, as reports suggest, folks are “irked” by the replica, potential fora for discussing this issue could be UNESCO and the World Heritage Centre, even though, again, this makes no mention of protecting replicas of monuments.
At the end of the day, I do not honestly think one can even begin to conflate this issue with copyright. It was made, as the filmmaker himself defends it, “because Bangladeshis could not “afford to go to
A comment from Patrice Riemens that I am sure he won’t object to being copied and reproduced:
“Ahsanullah Moni should make his Taj black, and so fulfill Shah Jehan’s dream!
“The world is full of replicas! Seoul’s Central Station is the exact copy
of the old one in Luzern (.ch) – which has burned in the meanwhile!
Calcutta’s High Court is built after the ‘Lakenhal’ in Ypers, so much so
that when the later was destroyed in WWI, it was rebuild using the
Calcutta blueprints (or is this ‘monkey sandwich’? – Dutch for urban
myth). The original of HazarDuari Palace in W.Bengal stands forlorn in a
grey Brussel suburb, and I think I have even found out which Paladian
villa on the Brenta stood model for Nimtita Palace (locale of Satyajit
Ray’s Jalsaghar)…
Cheers from patrizo and Diiiinooos!”
If we had to protect the Taj in the form of an IPR, I think that GI would most fit the bill. I am not so sure of it, though.
Nilanjana
Dear Nilanjana,
I have to respectfully disagree.
What is GI?
Geographical indication (GI) is a way of signifying to consumers of mass-created products that the product has a special linkage with the area in which it is produced. That would be to say that rice that isn’t cultivated in the temperature range and the soil conditions that the Panjab region allows, even it be genetically identical to “Basmati” may not be called by that name.
Epic FAIL
From the above, you can see clearly that the Taj Mahal fails on a number of counts. (1) It is not mass-produced for the benefit of (2) consumers (though this second point is arguable); and (3) with a special linkage to the area of its production.
“Geographical” indication
From Wikipedia: “The Taj Mahal was constructed using materials from all over India and Asia. Over 1,000 elephants were used to transport building materials during the construction. The translucent white marble was brought from Rajasthan, the jasper from Punjab, jade and crystal from China. The turquoise was from Tibet and the Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, while the sapphire came from Sri Lanka and the carnelian from Arabia. In all, twenty eight types of precious and semi-precious stones were inlaid into the white marble.”
Thus, there is nothing geographically connecting the Taj Mahal to the materials found in and around Agra.
More:
“A labour force of twenty thousand workers was recruited across northern India. Sculptors from Bukhara, calligraphers from Syria and Persia, inlayers from southern India, stonecutters from Baluchistan. . .”
Thus, those who constructed it were not solely from in and around Agra.
Even the designing was done by a multi-Empire team.
That is not to say that there is no connection between where the Taj Mahal is located and what it looks like. Just that those kinds of connections do not seem to have any kind of IP value.
Closing words
After all that, I would just like to clarify that I don’t believe GI itself is on firm footings IP theory-wise.
Regards,
Anonymous Cow.