“You can’t just go and copy historical monuments”

Bangladesh’s construction of an exact copy of the Taj Mahal has sparked a diplomatic fight between India and Bangladesh, centering on the question of whether or not it is possible to claim copyright on a building.

According to The Times Online, “[t]he project has cost about £40 million and is being built about 20 miles northeast of Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital. But the Indians are upset. ‘You can’t just go and copy historical monuments,’ an official at the Indian High Commission in Dhaka told a reporter this week.”

Bangladeshi officials are enraged by suggestions that the Taj Mahal is protected by some sort of copyright.

“I’m not sure what they are talking about,” one said. “Show me where it says that emulating a building like this can be illegal.”