Will your yoga classes become illegal? Let’s take a look at what seems to be happening.
India has created a team of Hindu experts and scientists to identify all of the older asanas or yoga positions.
The goal is to stop other people from patenting the positions and stealing what Indian calls their traditional knowledge.
The country has had to battle attempts by American yoga teachers attempting to patent positions associated with their classes. Yoga is estimated to be a $225 billion industry.
The Telegraph reports that up to 600 asanas have already been added to the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library.
However, the American system has granded more than 130 patents, 150 copyrights and over 2,000 trademarks relating to yoga.
In fact, India’s attempts to patent yoga poses is most likely an attempt to keep the poses and asanas free and widely available to the public.
In Pure Spirit
What do you think? Has India made the right decision here? Should the country patent yoga positions before the American system grants patents to individual yoga teachers?
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