American Attempt to Patent Yoga Puts Indians in a Twist

[Guest guest]

NEW DELHI (May 31, 2007): For millions around the world yoga is a

source of relaxation and spiritual sustenance. Not so for the Indian

Government, which has worked itself into a furious twist over efforts

by American entrepreneurs †" including an Indian-born

celebrity " yogi " †" to patent the ancient practice.

 

Indian officials announced yesterday that they would lodge official

complaints with U.S. authorities over hundreds of yoga-related

patents, copyrights and trademarks that have been issued in recent

years.

 

The Health Ministry said that it would take up the matter directly

with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, while the

Commerce Ministry said that it would write to the U.S. Trade

Representative.

 

" How can you patent yoga †" something that has been in the public

domain for thousands of years? " said Verghese Samuel, joint secretary

of the Ministry of Health department for yoga and other traditional

practices. " It's a ridiculous decision, " he told The Times. " We'll

have to challenge it. We’ve already started the process. "

 

The dispute has exposed the differing attitudes towards yoga †" and

intellectual property rights over " traditional knowledge " †" in India

and the U.S.

 

In India, where yoga has been practised for 6,000 years, it is

regarded as a Hindu exercise, involving philosophy as well as

fitness, and beyond the control of government or private enterprise.

In the United States, where yoga first became popular in the 1970s,

it has been largely stripped of its cultural and religious overtones

and turned into a $3 billion-a-year subset of the fitness industry.

 

As yoga has moved from marginal to mainstream, US authorities have

issued 150 yoga-related copyrights, 134 patents on yoga accessories

and 2,315 yoga-related trademarks.

 

Indian authorities appear to have been particularly upset by the

copyright and trademark granted to Bikram Choudhury, the founder

of " Hot Yoga " , for his brand of 26 yoga poses performed in a steam

room.

 

Mr Choudhury, who is originally from Calcutta and opened his first

yoga studio in California in the 1970s, copyrighted his yoga sequence

in 1978 and obtained a trademark for Bikram Yoga in 2002. In 2005 he

won a legal argument with a group of yoga teachers who disputed the

copyright and trademark. He argues that his sequence of poses,

combined with high temperatures †" they should be done at above 105F

(40.5C) and 50 per cent humidity †" is unique.

 

" The analogy to music is perfect, " John Marcoux, his lawyer,

said. " He's not claiming ownership of individual notes, but of a

particular selection of notes and the arrangement of those notes. "

 

" If you look at the number of yoga poses in the universe and at how

many sequences you can create, the numbers are astronomical, " he

added. " This doesn’t hurt yoga, it helps spread it around the world. "

 

The 61-year-old self-proclaimed " yogi to the stars " , who has about

900 studios around the world, plans to open his first Indian outlet

in Bombay.

 

His plans have been overshadowed by a barrage of criticism in the

Indian media from government officials and yoga experts. " One cannot

patent yoga. It is an Indian treasure, " said Suneel Singh, who has

been teaching yoga for 25 years.

 

Yoga is one of thousands of traditional Indian products †" including

basmati rice and turmeric †" that the Indian Government has been

fighting to protect from Western patents in recent years.

 

In 2002 it set up a task force to compile a Traditional Knowledge

Digital Library with details of 4,500 medicinal plants, Ayurvedic

remedies and thousands of yoga postures.

 

The library, which draws on texts in Sanskrit, Tamil and other

ancient languages, is designed to provide a body of evidence to help

to fight attempts to copyright Indian traditional knowledge.

 

SOURCE: The Times, London

URL:

<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article1862524.ece>

[Guest guest]

[i notice there is some very interesting reader reaction to this

article. Here are some comments:]

 

1. So American entrepreneurs make " efforts " while the Indian

government " works itself into a furious twist. " This sort of language

encodes a bias that makes anything non-Western sound illogical and

amusing. In fact, it is the American fat cats who are doing something

that is both risible and immoral. What else does Jeremy Page find

hilarious? The Western trade practices that keep African farmers dirt-

poor?

 

Kalpana, Southampton, Hampshire

 

2. Kalpana, you should read other articles by same author(Jeremy

Page). You would go mad at his attitude. But I must point out that it

is not Jeremy that is to be blamed. It is the whole western attitude

toward rest of the world that is the problem. Jeremy is just a small

part/product of it.

 

Ever thought why the West calls developing countries as " third

world " , communists as " second world " ...and the West of course has to

be the " first world " ? Having lived in the West for a long period of

time I can attest to the fact that they have a certain bias of

superiority complex. Unfortunately it also reflects on their foreign

policies(nevermind countless " third worlders " that either pay with

their lives of are badly affected).

 

There are some exceptions, however: William Dalrymple's new book

about 1857 revolt is a good examples, another would be Sir Mark

Tully. I personally find them very balanced, and moslty devoid of the

illusions that most Westerners like Mr. Page have.

 

Pank, Austin, USA

 

3. As a practitioner of Hatha Yoga who can attest to some of the

health benefits of this ancient and venerable practice, I find it

amusing that all that is required today is someone with a bit of the

entrepreneurial spirit and the facility to spot a potential cash cow

and he or she is soon on the way to earning their mega bucks!

 

Whatever can be cannibalize or plagiarize is grist to the mill! What

can be patented next? The Tai Chi Chuan or perhaps, selected

positions filched from the Kamasutra by some avid porn operator?

Truly, it's not beyond the bounds of human ingenuity to think of

various ways of making money. One lives by the 21st Century

sacrosanct rule that nothing is sacrosanct anymore!

 

SD Goh, PJ, MALAYSIA

 

4. Copyright, trade marks and patens are three VERY DIFFERENT forms

of intellectual property protection. I doubt that Mr Choudhury's IP

(if any) will stop anyone doing anything. For a start, if you want to

patent something, it has to be demonstrably new, and, as lamentable

as standards of examination are the USPTO, even they get that right!

 

Ross Manning, London, UK

 

5. It's a fantastic opportunity to rake up some steam against Uncle

Sam. Tell them to revoke the patents or else patents of

pharmaceutical companies will be considered invalid in India, and

cheap drugs produced. And bring it up publicly in an international

forum. Would love to see the White House squirm over this.

 

Pinakin, Toronto

 

6. sigh ... capitalists.....

 

Logan, London

 

 

, " Devi Bhakta "

<devi_bhakta wrote:

>

> NEW DELHI (May 31, 2007): For millions around the world yoga is a

> source of relaxation and spiritual sustenance. Not so for the

Indian

> Government, which has worked itself into a furious twist over

efforts

> by American entrepreneurs …quot; including an Indian-born

> celebrity " yogi " …quot; to patent the ancient practice.