Copyright Protection for Yoga Poses is a Stretch

On October 8, 2015, the United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit released its decision in Bikram’s Yoga College of India, LP v Evolation Yoga, LLC, affirming the district court’s decision that the plaintiff’s sequence of yoga poses and breathing exercises is not entitled to copyright protection.

Bikram Choudhury developed a set of yoga poses and described these poses in his 1979 book, Bikram’s Beginning Yoga Class. The Court found that Choudhury’s copyright protection for this book does not extend to the actual sequence of yoga poses and breathing exercises because the sequence is an “idea” and not an “expression” protected by copyright. Section 102(a) of the Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 102(a)) excludes copyright protection for an idea, procedure or process.  While the plaintiff’s book, including the words and the pictures used to describe the sequence, represents a protectable expression of the sequence, the sequence itself remains an unprotectable process or idea.

The Court also found that the sequence was neither a “compilation” nor a “choreographic work” protected by copyright.  In order for a work to be protected in any form, such work must satisfy the requirements of Section 102 of the Copyright Act. The Court emphasized this point by stating that the sequence is not transformed into a protectable compilation simply because it is comprised of constituent elements.

Regarding protection of Choudhury’s methodology, the Court noted that “if it is entitled to protection at all, that protection is more properly sought through the patent process”.