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Bikram yoga founder Bikram Choudhury CNN

A court has ruled that this man can't copyright yoga poses

Bikram Choudhury has taken credit for extending the careers of sports stars like John McEnroe.

THE FOUNDER OF a popular form of yoga that is performed in a room heated to nearly 40 degrees has lost a court appeal to copyright a sequence of 26 poses and two breathing exercises.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the sequence used in hot yoga classes is a process intended to improve people’s health, so copyright law does not cover it.

A copyright on the yoga sequence would be akin to giving a surgeon the exclusive right to perform a complicated surgery, the court said.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by Bikram Choudhury, considered the founder of Bikram yoga.

The classes take place in a room that is more than 100 degrees and are supposed to provide health and fitness benefits.

Bikram Yoga-Lawsuits Choudhury leads a yoga class in 2003 AP Photo / Reed Saxon,File AP Photo / Reed Saxon,File / Reed Saxon,File

Graceful flow

Choudhury has said he extended the careers of Kareem Abdul Jabbar and John McEnroe, among other professional athletes, according to the 9th Circuit decision.

The court rejected Choudhury’s arguments that he was entitled to copyright protection because his arrangement of the poses constituted a compilation. A call to Choudhury’s attorneys was not immediately returned.

“Though Choudhury emphasizes the aesthetic attributes of the sequence’s ‘graceful flow,’ at bottom, the sequence is an idea, process, or system designed to improve health,” Judge Kim Wardlaw said.

Copyright protects only the expression of this idea – the words and pictures used to describe the sequence – and not the idea of the sequence itself.”

Tennis - 2015 Wimbledon Preview Package Former tennis player John McEnroe PA Wire PA Wire

Choudhury sued the Evolation Yoga studio in 2011, accusing it of copyright infringement for using his sequence in its classes.

The studio was founded by Mark Drost and Zefea Samson in New York after they completed a Bikram yoga teacher-training course developed by Choudhury.

The 9th Circuit upheld a lower court decision in favor of Evolation Yoga. Eric Maier, an attorney for the studio, said his clients should be commended for “standing up” to their opponent.

Choudhury has previously been accused of sexually assaulting several female students, although he has denied the allegations.

Additional reporting Peter Bodkin

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17 Comments
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    Mute Sgt Pepper
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    Oct 9th 2015, 4:42 PM

    Common sense prevails. Trying to copyright something that’s widely used and over 2.5k years old? Another opportunistic knobhead.

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    Mute Sgt Pepper
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    Oct 9th 2015, 4:49 PM

    of course, on the flip side of the coin, and despite the fact it also has ‘health benefits’ as cited as a primary reason in the article, big pharma hold patents on life saving meds for many years. I understand they need to make money back on their investments and if not for the very same copyright they (pharma) wouldn’t exist in their current form at least. It still doesn’t change the fact large swathes of the world would directly benefit and many millions needlessly die due to this very same copyright.

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    Mute jane
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    Oct 9th 2015, 5:50 PM

    So he developed a teacher training course on his methods and then sued lads who after completing the course used it in their classes? Sounds a bit thick.

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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Oct 9th 2015, 9:01 PM

    Did we have to see that picture? #budgiesmugglers

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    Mute Always Right!
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    Oct 9th 2015, 4:41 PM

    what a toolbag

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    Mute Jamsey
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    Oct 9th 2015, 4:46 PM

    Downward facing toolbag…..

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    Mute Rory J Leonard
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    Oct 9th 2015, 6:12 PM

    You can not be serious! That ball was in!

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    Mute Chief
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    Oct 9th 2015, 6:51 PM

    chalk dust! !!!

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    Mute Uncle Monty
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    Oct 9th 2015, 4:46 PM

    I for one am a yoga advocate. Without yoga, yoga pants might never exist. Scary thought that a trip to the shops might not result in some camel-toe action.

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    Mute little jim
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    Oct 9th 2015, 5:28 PM

    Do you like a bit of bare yogee?

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    Mute Al Ca
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    Oct 9th 2015, 5:16 PM

    Done in a very hot room?………a very cunning plan to get the women’s kit off.

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    Mute Jamsey
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    Oct 9th 2015, 8:28 PM

    He’s smarter than the avarage bear….

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    Mute spud
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    Oct 9th 2015, 4:45 PM

    If u look close enough you can see his toolbag, no place for budgie smugglers in this world

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    Mute dj
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    Oct 9th 2015, 5:19 PM

    Fckin creep.

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    Mute SteveW
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    Oct 9th 2015, 5:51 PM

    McEnroe hasn’t won a tournament in years so obviously not working…

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Oct 9th 2015, 4:59 PM

    Greedy B….

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    Mute Tadgh Smith
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    Oct 9th 2015, 9:38 PM

    Doing Bikram or “hot” yoga is a fast way to catch athletes foot and other fungal of bacterial infections. The heated rooms that it is carried out in are excellent breeding grounds for microbes.

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