Can anyone own a yoga sequence?
AI-drafted · awaiting admin review
In the US, Bikram Choudhury claimed copyright over a sequence of yoga postures. Courts and India's Traditional Knowledge Digital Library pushed back.
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Indian claim
Yoga postures are traditional Indian knowledge, open to all, and cannot be owned by any person or company.
Evidence for the Indian claim
- India's Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), set up in 2001, documented yoga postures and shares them with patent offices so they are treated as known (prior art) and cannot be patented.
- The US Copyright Office clarified that yoga postures and sequences, as exercises, are not something copyright protects.
- A US federal appeals court ruled in 2015 that the Bikram sequence is not eligible for copyright.
Commonly credited to
Bikram Choudhury, founder of 'Bikram Yoga' in the US, claimed copyright over his sequence of 26 postures and sued other studios; others sought patents and trademarks on yoga methods.
Evidence for the other claim
- Copyright can still protect a particular book, video or photograph about yoga, and trademarks can protect brand names.
What historians and scientists say
Yoga postures are shared traditional knowledge of Indian origin and cannot be owned. Only specific books, videos and brand names can be protected.