For those who lived by night-life wonderland certainly won't be able to resist the soothing and exotic atmosphere of Buddha Bar. The French-owned lounge chain is currently entertaining many major cities of the world, including Paris, London, Dublin, Cairo and of course, Jakarta. Indwelling Batavia's (Jakarta's previous name in Dutch colonization era) former immigration office, Buddha bar has poured the oil on the fire for expatriate and upper crust society to experience the charm of luxury.

But not with a group of Buddhist who allied in Anti-Buddha Bar Forum (FABB), they filed an entreat to the Directorate General of Intellectual Property Rights to withdraw the restaurant's trademark license in early March 2009.

They argued that no brand can contain religious attributes or other elements that may disturb society, according to the Paris Convention on Industrial Wealth.

The Director of Trademarks, Herdwiyatmi, SH, immediately responded on that controversial issue soon after petitions were submitted, saying “Problem is, we were being careless while interpreting Article 5. Article 5 contained the restriction to use symbols or names of believes or certain religious views as trademarks and we were careless. We admit that�.

Other than petitions, FABB use many different kinds of action, such demonstrations, discussion forums, religious activity in front of the venue, even visiting DKI Jakarta Tourism Agency proposing to revoke the operational license of the foreign owned bar. Kevin Wu as the head of the group said that they will lodge a protest with the United Nations over the presence of the bar chain containing other Buddha's name, such as Siddharta's Cafe in Prague, Little Buddha Cafe in Las Vegas and Buddha Bar Spa in Evian Les-Bains.

After long arguments in a mediation held by the Directorate of Intellectual Property Rights with Andi N. Sommeng, the Directior, as mediator, PT. Nireta Vista Creative under the license of George V Eatertainment, the trademark's owner, finally requested for the trademark's abolition to Indonesian Trademark Office and were quickly granted through the Letter of No. HKI.4.HI.06. 03-68 dated April 15 2009.

Recently the bar's name changed to “Bataviasche Kuntskring� and still opened daily from 8.00 pm until 2.00 am the next morning. The name was taken from the original designation of the 96-year-old building which was built in 1913 by a Dutch architect, Pieter Adriaan Jacobus Moojen. The building, which is a cultural landmark to the city, was repurchased from a private owner and was restored using taxpayer's money at an approximate cost of Rp 35 billion.