The Kolkata-based Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa in 1950, plans to copyright the Nobel Peace laureate's name, according to the Chicago Sun-Times daily.

The daily quoted Sister Nirmala, who took charge of the order after the death of Mother Teresa in September 1997, as saying that the Missionaries of Charity has applied for copyright in India and sought legal protection for the order's logo and name.

Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia.

The 'Saint of the Gutters', as Mother Teresa is known, is on the fast track to beatification. After her death the Church decided to put aside the mandatory five-year period required to grant anyone sainthood.

According to reports, the Vatican is examining a secret 36,000-page report into the life, beliefs and miracles of Mother Teresa.

The 76-volume report followed a two-year investigation by Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, a Canadian priest appointed as chief postulator, or overseer, of the cause to declare Mother Teresa a saint.

The Congregation for the Causes of the Saints has already recognised the healing of an Indian woman's abdominal tumour as a miracle attributable to Mother Teresa.