Fake Taj Mahal

A film director in Bangladesh has announced plans to build an exact replica of the Taj Mahal. He's going to use the same marble and stone as the original, but to save time he's using machinery (rather than thousands of peasant workers) to construct it. His reason for building it: "Everyone dreams about seeing the Taj Mahal but very few Bangladeshis can make the trip because it's too expensive for them."

All of this has upset officials in India who have threatened to sue for copyright infringement because "You can't just go and copy historical monuments."

Personally, I think I'd find the fake Taj Mahal more interesting than the real thing. Link: Times Online

Places

Posted on Sun Dec 14, 2008


Comments

"Fake" is the entire premise of Las Vegas!
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Mon Dec 15, 2008  at  01:11 AM
The Yamousoukro cathedral, in Africa (Ivory Coest, I think) is a replica of St Peter of Rome. Apparently there was no copyright problem with it.
Posted by Christophe Thill  on  Mon Dec 15, 2008  at  04:01 AM
"You can't just go and copy historical monuments."

Wow, Nashville's going to have to tear down its Parthenon.
Posted by Big Gary  on  Mon Dec 15, 2008  at  08:13 AM
There are several copies and mutations of the Stonehenge monument in the USA alone. Here is a link if you are interested:

http://www.luckymojo.com/stonehenge.html
Posted by fuzzfoot  on  Mon Dec 15, 2008  at  09:44 AM
Well, I don't know about Indian law, but US copyright law doesn't protect architecture built prior to 1990.
Posted by AqueousBoy  on  Mon Dec 15, 2008  at  12:32 PM
I think if he completes the intended monument, with the mirror of the black stone mausoleum at the opposite shore, he might get more tourist traffic than the original!
Posted by Jenn  on  Thu Dec 25, 2008  at  04:10 PM
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