BBC turns yoga patent facts "on their head"

A press release from the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA), issued today, states that claims that yoga positions "are being patented" are misleading. The organisation accuses the BBC of "turning the facts about yoga positions on their head". This press release has been provoked by the trailer for a discussion on Radio 4’s Today programme on 9 June. Says CIPA Council member Rob Jackson:

"On its website, the BBC’s headline for the yoga story was ‘The Indian government is planning to patent nearly a thousand yoga postures’. In fact, what the Indian government is sensibly trying to do is to prevent people from claiming intellectual property rights for what is a traditional, centuries-old practice".

A pat on the head is however doled out to The Guardian newspaper, which assured its readers that nothing could be further from the truth and that video recordings have been made of yoga positions for the purpose of showing anyone who tries to patent them that the Indians got there first. Dr Vinod Kumar Gupta, who heads the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library, a Delhi-based government organisation set up jointly by the Indian ministries of health and science, is quoted as explaining why his organisation is making video recordings of yoga positions:

"Simple text isn't adequate. People are claiming they are doing something different from the original yoga when they are not. There is no intention to stop people practising yoga but nobody should misappropriate yoga and start charging franchise money".

Some cynics might say that if the BBC were as good at contorting their bodies as they are at contorting the facts, they'd master yoga in no time.

The IPKat is pleased that, at a time when so many elements within the patent professions are arguing with each other over business method patents, non-practising entities, litigation costs and so on, CIPA has at last found an issue on which all patent practitioners and their clients are likely to be in complete agreement. Merpel wonders, yoga positions have fascinating names. Which ones are particularly apt for patent attorneys? Any suggestions? Please post them below so we can all enjoy them!

Cat Yoga: buy it here

More yoga positions demonstrated by cats here

Is yoga good for you? Click here

Is yoga bad for you? Click here

The art of yoga for dyslexics here