N.Y. General Business Law § 209-a: Registration of hotel and motel names

§ 209-a. Registration of hotel and motel names. Any person or

corporation now owning or now engaged in and conducting the business of

an hotel or motel in the state of New York may register the name by

which said hotel or motel is known and designated by filing in the

office of the secretary of state a petition subscribed by the petitioner

and affirmed by him as true under the penalties of perjury, containing

the facsimile of such name or designation and specifically describing

the location of the hotel or motel to be known by such name or

designation, together with the name and address of the person or

corporation owning or operating the hotel or motel in addition to such

other recitals as the secretary of state may require. A duplicate

original or a certified copy of such petition shall also be filed in the

office of the clerk of the county in which said hotel or motel is

situated and a copy of said petition shall be printed once each week for

three consecutive weeks in a newspaper published in the county in which

said hotel or motel is located, and such person or corporation shall

thereupon have the right to the exclusive use of such name or

designation for an hotel or motel in the state of New York. Where it

appears that the required publication has been made and this article has

been in all other respects complied with the secretary of state shall

deliver to such person or corporation so filing such petition a

certificate under his seal of the record of such filing and such

certificate shall be prima facie evidence of the right to the exclusive

use in the state of New York of such name or designation by the person

or corporation therein named. Any person or corporation may so register

the name of an hotel or motel about to be erected, provided, however,

that in the event that such person or corporation shall not begin the

construction of said hotel or motel within one year thereafter and

prosecute the construction thereof with reasonable dispatch, said person

or corporation shall be deemed to have abandoned the right to use such

name or designation.