Protection for yoga under ip laws

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..By

Sinduja Amudanathan

Protection For Yoga Under IP laws



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What is YogaYoga is one of the oldest physical and spiritual exercises known

to mankind. It is collective knowledge and has been believed to

be in existence from around 2500 B.C.

According to Dr. Nevins, benefits of yoga are as follows:1.Increased flexibility.2.Increased muscle strength and tone.3.Improved respiration, energy and vitality.4.The maintenance of a balanced metabolism.5.Weight reduction.6.Cardio and circulatory health.7.Improved athletic performance.8.Protection from injury



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TRADIONAL KNOWLEDGE

• Traditional knowledge (traditional knowledge), indigenous

knowledge (IK), and local knowledge generally refer to the

matured long-standing traditions and practices of certain

regional, indigenous or local communities. Traditional

knowledge also encompasses the wisdom, knowledge and

teaching of these communities. In many cases, traditional

knowledge has been orally passed from person to person for

generations. Some traditional knowledge is expressed through

stories, legends, folklores, rituals, songs and even laws. Other

forms of traditional knowledge are often expressed through

different means.



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INTLECTUAL PROPERTY

• COPYRIGHT

Copyright is a legal right created by the law of a country that

grants the creator of an original work exclusive rights to its use

and distribution, usually for a limited time, with the intention of

enabling the creator (e.g. the photographer of a photograph or

the author of a book) to receive compensation for their

intellectual effort. The exclusive rights are, however, not

absolute and do not give the creator total control of their works

because they are limited by limitations and exceptions to

copyright law.



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COPYRIGHT and YOGA

Many courts have generally ruled that recipes are functional and

therefore not able to be copyrighted in other words; the court

ruled that both the ingredients and the directions were not

protected by copyright, because they are a “procedure, process,

[or] system,” and copyright does not extend to those things. Just

like recipes yoga is also functional and its a procedure followed

for many decade

.



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Eastern Book Company v. Modak

The question of originality was raised where it was rightly said

that there should be a minimal degree of creativity to gain

protection under law”.

The concept of originality can be explained with reference to

Indian movies where there is generally a hero in love with the

heroin and a villain who fights the hero and at last the hero wins.

This is a traditional idea which is been followed for years but the

way it’s been expressed is the matter of fact involved. Therefore no

single person can claim monopoly over the idea per se and the

copyright will be limited to the expression of that particular idea.



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Bikram Choudhary, the founder of Bikram Yoga has filed a

copyright infringement suit against Greg Gumucio, who

is offering similar services through his brand, ‘Yoga to

the People’ [YTTP]. Bikram Yoga involves a yoga

session lasting 90 minutes. This includes 26 poses, two

breathing exercises and a scripted dialogue. All this

occurs in a room that is heated to 105 degrees

Bikram YOGA CASE



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Cont…A fundamental principle of copyright law is that you cannot gain intellectual property rights in an idea, but you can copyright the fixed expression of that idea. Additionally, the Federal Copyright Act specifically states that compilations are copyrightable material. The definition section found in 17 U.S.C. 101 defines “compilation” as: “a work formed by the collection and assembling of pre-existing materials or of data that are selected, coordinated, or arranged in such a way that the resulting work as a whole constitutes an original work of authorship.” The fact that the poses used in the Bikram yoga sequence have existed for thousands of years does not make the sequence un copyrightable.



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Chancellor Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford v. Narendra Publishing

That mandates that no copyright can be granted over content

where idea and expression are so tied together, that they cannot

be separated. Add to this the fact that Choudhary has not

formulated the yoga poses himself but only used knowledge in

public domain. His selection of 26 unique poses and their

description (with the slightest infusion of novelty) could

arguably qualify the work as a compilation. However, that would

still prevent one from copying the book, not do or teach the pose

itself. Bikram Choudhury can no longer claim to hold

a copyright to the popular 26-pose sequence thanks to a federal

court ruling, putting an end to an issue that's been debated in

the yoga community for decades.

http://www.indiankanoon.org/doc/1693737/



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Institute of Inner Studies (IIS) v. Charlotte Anderson,

In this case the applicant claimed copyright and trademark over ‘Pranic Healing’. The Delhi HC discussed the issues of originality and idea-expression dichotomy in detail. The judge also relied upon the Bikram yoga cases and on analysis came to the conclusion that whenever copyright protection is sought on works in books and literature describing useful art, principle, historical fact or events or mode of performing ancient exercise or any other process for that matter, it is only the language used that will acquire protection and not the method or sequence described therein. Thus, in the present case, IIS would not be allowed to monopolise on performance of asanas or techniques of pranic healing. Further, if it to be argued that modern pranic healing techniques are entitled to protection and that the expression of the idea is novel, the fact remains that copyright is granted on the basis of originality which these techniques very obviously lack. Lastly, the court clarified that the novel processes, methods, principles, manner of performing the art or exercise are all the realm of the Patents and not the copyright.



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TRADEMARKS -"IYENGAR YOGA" IS TRADEMARKED IN THE U.S.

In accordance with his lifetime contribution to the art, science, and

philosophy of yoga, B.K.S. Iyengar has pursued trademark protection so

that yoga associated with his name reflects his work. As of August 14,

2007 the name "IYENGAR" associated with "YOGA" has been registered as

a trademark and is protected in the United States in connection with

teaching Iyengar yoga. Only Certified Iyengar Yoga teachers in good

standing are permitted to use "Iyengar Yoga" to describe their yoga

programs or classes.



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TRADEMARKING – PRANIC HEALING

The term ‘pranic healing’, at the outset is a generic term and

lacks distinctiveness, which is one of the main criteria for

trademark registration under Section 9 of the Trademarks

Act. The court drew a prima facie inference that the claims of

registration were inconsequential as they lacked distinctive

character. Also, the court noted that the registration had been

secured by making false claims as to proprietorship which

questions the registration of the mark in the first place. It was

held that there was no case of trademark infringement as the

plaintiffs held no monopoly over the term ‘pranic healing’.



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Patenting Yoga

Bikram — who teaches in California — has applied for the patent

of yoga, which is essentially yoga in a steam room. Bikram came to

the US at the invitation of President Richard Nixon in 1973 and

became one of the most sought-after yoga teachers in the West as

celebrities, athletes, and others began to flock to him. Popular yoga

guru Swami Ramdev has sought intervention from the government

and yoga organisations to prevent Choudhary's move. "Yoga can't

be owned and run like a company. Since there are attempts to

patent this tradition (of yoga) in America, the Centre and yoga

organisations should take measures to prevent it," Ramdev said in

Shimla recently.



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Yoga and Traditional Knowledge

Copyrights over yoga postures and trademark on yoga tools have

becoming rampant in the West. Till now, 130 yoga-related

patents granted in the USA are traced. Scientists are presently

scanning through 35 ancient Sanskrit texts, including the

Mahabharata, Bhagawad Gita and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali to

identify and document all known yoga concepts, postures and

terminology. Till now, 600 ‘asanas’ (physical postures) have

already been documented.



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Traditional Knowledge Digital Library

Before discussing the issue relating to yoga and IP, it is important to know of the existence of TKDL and what it seeks to achieve. For the uninitiated, TKDL is an initiative of the Indian government pursuant to the basmati and turmeric patent disputes in the USA. There has been attempt by TKDL to compile and consolidate information on Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Yoga, in digitized format in five international languages. The objective of the library is to protect the ancient and traditional knowledge of the country from exploitation through bio piracy and unethical patents. This is advantageous as it makes it easier for patent offices to find prior art relating to any of the above processing patent applications and also, it acts as a safeguard when persons are misappropriating traditional knowledge. 1,500 postures in yoga began in 2008, after new reports of a large number of false gurus and yoga masters, who attempted to patent this ancient knowledge in their own countries. For example, 131 yoga-related patents were traced in the US alone in 2007. After an uproar in the parliament and media, the government of India took up the issue with the USPTO. In light of the Bikram Yoga case, (TKDL along with yoga gurus and other experts have documented over 900 asana in order to prevent anyone from monopolising over any yoga-related postures or asana.



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ADVANTAGE OF TKDL:-

But as the number of Western yoga teachers has grown, there has been a steady increase in patent applications claiming each pose in their class is not part of the ancient discipline of mind and body, but their own unique invention. In the United States alone, there have been more than 130 yoga-related patents, 150 copyrights and 2,300 trademarks. Now India's Traditional Knowledge Digital Library is being made available to patents offices throughout the world so they can establish whether the claim is a genuine innovation or "prior art" from Indian systems of medicine. "Copyrights over yoga postures and trademarks on yoga tools have become rampant in the West. Till now, we have traced 130 yoga-related patents in the US. We hope to finish putting on record at least 1500 yoga postures by the end of 2009," said Dr V.P Gupta, of the CSIR, who created the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library.



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CONCLUSION

Yoga is one of the oldest physical and spiritual exercises known to

mankind. It is collective knowledge and has been believed to be in

existence from around 2500 B.C. Come to think of it, there should be

no intellectual property battle over it – it is India’s traditional

knowledge and no single entity or company should be allowed to

monopolise any yoga asana or posture in the form of a patent or

copyright, as the case may be. However, practically and legally, it

isn’t this straight forward and answers can only be sought by

analysing it.

Law

Protection for yoga under ip laws