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.
Last modified: February 3, 2019