Forty Indian concepts including Veda, ayurveda and Gayatri have been found registered as trademarks in Germany, director of New Delhi-based Vastu Shastra Institute Ashwini Kumar Bansal said.

Last week Bansal had found out that Vastu --- an ancient Indian architectural concept --- had been registered as a trademark by a German organisation, Samhita, sometime between 1998 and 1999.

The various Indian trademarks have been registered by several organisations including Samhita, which is run by followers of spiritual guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Bansal said.

He added that Mahesh Yogi was using Maharishi Veda and Maharishi Ayurveda as registered trademarks since Veda and ayurveda had been already registered by other organisations in Germany.

While Veda had been registered as early as in 1984, Gayatri had been registered very recently, he said.

Bansal, who is an arbitrator on the World Intellectual Property Organisation since 1996, said that he would soon approach the government and the WIPO on this issue.

"I have also recently floated an Intellectual Property Rights Forum for the protection of Indian concepts which will work as a watchdog against Indian concepts being used by foreigners abroad," he said.