Source: www.hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI, INDIA, June 7, 2010: The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research has prepared patent formats of nearly 900 yoga asanas (postures), to prevent European and American companies involved in fitness-related activities from claiming them as their own. The asanas have been collected from Patanjali’s classic work on yoga, as well as other ancient classics like the Bhagwat Gita.
These asanas will all be included in the digitalised Traditional Knowledge Library, set up by the council to collect and record traditional treatment therapy knowledge. Medicines and yoga asanas registered with it enjoy the status of being patented. “Video recordings of the asanas are also being made and recorded to prevent them from being stolen,” said TKDL director Dr. V.K. Gupta. A number of countries have already laid claim to around 250 of these postures. some foreign companies have even patented some of them, says Gupta.