KAUAI, HAWAII, USA, June 26, 2005: Curious just what about yoga was being patented in the USA, HPI made a preliminary investigation on the US Patent’ Office’s web site, here. We found 134 patents with the word “yoga” mentioned in them (click “source” for the list), 48 with the word “ayurveda” and 134 for “tumeric.” At first glance, the yoga patents don’t appear to be of much concern, comprised mostly of inventions such as the “Yoga support system and method,” US patent 6,66,5356 issued to Martha I. Aarons of Cleveland Ohio in July of 2004. The abstract reads: “A yoga support system includes a pair of yoga gloves and a pair of yoga slippers. Yoga gloves cover the hands of a yoga practitioner and include anti-skid material on parts of the gloves to enable a yoga practitioner to attain and maintain postures that involve pressing on a floor or wall. In particular, the yoga gloves may include anti-skid portions covering an outer part (further from the midline of the hand) of the yoga practitioner’s thumb. The yoga slippers include an anti-skid sole, as well as anti-skid side portions on their sides. The slippers allow a yoga practitioner to maintain contact with the floor with the feet flat on the floor, or with the feet pronated or supinated. Other parts of the yoga gloves and yoga slippers are uncovered fabric, which may be a light, breathable and stretchable material.” The stated objective of the invention is to replace bulky yoga mats.
The patents under ayurveda and tumeric may be of more concern, likely involving already known properties of common Indian traditional medicines.
We also did a little searching in the US trademark office (click here) for “yoga.” There were 999 trademarked terms with the word “yoga,” including “Punk Rock Yoga,” “Libby’s Yoga Socks,” “Yogalicious,” “Flip Dog Power Yoga + Pilates,” “Loud Yoga,” and so on…