About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

5 Cardozo Pub. L. Pol'y & Ethics J. 623 (2006-2007)
Don't Sweat It: Copyright Protection for Yoga... Are Exercise Routines next?

handle is hein.journals/cardplp5 and id is 629 raw text is: DON'T SWEAT IT: COPYRIGHT PROTECTION FOR YOGA . .. ARE EXERCISE ROUTINES NEXT? Karolina Jesien * INTRODUCTION On first impression, it... seems inappropriate, and almost unbe- lievable, that a sequence of yoga positions could be any one person's intellectual property.' These words acknowledge that, instinctively, the notion of one person claiming possession to a part of an ancient spiri- tual practice is somewhat uneasy. Yet these are the words of the same court, which ultimately held that, indeed, a yoga sequence could be copyrighted. Although this holding may feel counter-intuitive at first, after a thorough inspection of existing copyright law, and also after con- sidering the policy implications, the notion becomes more acceptable, and in fact, even begins to look like the right result. The practice of yoga has its roots in ancient India over five thou- sand years ago.2 Bikram Yoga is a relatively recent yoga style to emerge. It was founded about thirty years ago by Bikram Choudhury (Bikram), and it is currently the yoga style enjoying the fastest grow- ing popularity.3 Bikram Yoga consists of twenty-six postures conducted in precisely the same order every time, in a room heated to a minimum of one hundred and fifteen degrees Fahrenheit and having forty percent humidity.4 After about a decade of teaching his style of yoga in the United States, Bikram launched a training course where he trained indi- viduals to instruct others in Bikram Yoga.5 In order to ensure that his * B.Eng., Computer Engineering, McGill University in Montreal, Canada; J.D. Candidate, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Spring 2007. The author would like to thank Professor Justin Hughes for his guidance in writing this note. The author also wishes to thank the entire staff of the Cardozo Public Law, Policy and Ethics Journal for their work in preparing this note for publication. 1 Open Source Yoga Unity v. Choudhury, No. C 03-3182, 2005 WL 756558, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 1, 2005). 2 Katherine Machan, Bending Over Backwards for Copyright Protection: Bikram Yoga and the Quest for Federal Copyright Protection of an Asana Sequence, 12 UCLA ENT. L. REv. 29, 29 (2004). 3 Id at 32. 4 Id. at 31; Shannon M. Wise, Copyright Battles Over Yoga's 5,000-year-old Tradition, 23- SUM ENT. & SPORTS LAW *18 (2005). 5 Machan, supra note 2, at 32.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most