The U.S. Patent Office maintains that it has not given out patents for yoga routines but has granted numerous patents for yoga-related products.
Nevertheless, India -- the country that boasts of having invented yoga -- is aiming to keep the ancient practice free of commercial entanglements and ownership. As first reported in the Indian press and in a recent New York Times op-ed, India has gone on the attack.
"We have had yoga for 5,000 years. It is not proper for anyone to give out patents on yoga," Vijay Kumar Malhotra, spokesman for the Indian parliament's Bharatiya Janata Party, told ABC News.
Though Malhotra did not name names, the Indian media has swirled with rumors that parliament is specifically targeting Bikram Choudhury, arguably the best-known yoga patent holder in the United States.
Choudhury, who was born in Calcutta but now lives Los Angeles, built his Bikram Yoga empire on a series of 26 carefully choreographed asanas, or yoga positions, performed in a heated room and accompanied by a specific set of instructions. All of this, according to Choudhury, is patented, copyrighted and trademarked.
"I have a brand name," he said.
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