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Pierce Law IP News Blog | All the IP News that’s fit to blog.: “The Next Time You Want to do the ‘Tree Pose,’ it Might Be Wise to Check First With the Copyright Office
Submitted by Carey on Sat, 04/09/2005 – 6:48pm.

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In a decision announced on April Fools, U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton handed down a mixed ruling, denying summary judgment to both the plaintiffs and defendant, in a copyright case that is starting to ‘heat up.’

Bikram Yoga, a form of Hatha yoga which its founder, Bikram Choudhury, has modified and shortened to 26 principal poses (or asanas) and 2 breath exercises (called pranayama), done in a room with a heated temperature of 105 degrees. Open Source Yoga Unity(OSYU), had challeneged the copyrights and trademarks that Mr. Choudhury holds in his form of yoga. The website for OSYU claims that the group was formed in part to ‘provide a common voice, and the pooling of resources, to oppose the litigious position Bikram Choudhury is taking against the Yoga community by his attempted enforcement of copyright protection.'”