Yogis Rejoice: Ninth Circuit Declares Yoga Sequence Not Copyrightable

Copyright law may seem an odd forum for a battle of yoga instructors, but a recent Ninth Circuit opinion affirming that a sequence of yoga poses is not copyrightable subject matter under 17 U.S.C. § 102(b) sets important guideposts on the contours of copyright protection.

Bikram Choudhury teaches a popular particular sequence of 26 yoga poses practiced in a hot room over 90 minutes known as "Bikram Yoga." By instructing other yoga teachers in his methods and licensing franchises for "Bikram Yoga," Choudhury built a business empire. To combat competition, he widely asserted that because he had developed the particular sequence he taught, he was entitled to copyright protection over it, and that others could not teach the sequence. Choudhury and his company threatened and ultimately sued several of his former protégées who taught the same method, one of whom had founded Evolation Yoga.

Choudhury based his claims on a 1979 book in which he described the 26 poses and two breathing exercises and his recommended order for performing them. In 2002, through a supplementary registration form that referred back to the 1979 book, he registered the "compilation of exercises" the book described.

The Ninth Circuit rejected Choudhury's attempt to use his copyright in the 1979 book, which covered the photographs, drawings, and words, to control others' expression of the idea of the sequence of movements. Bikram Yoga College of India, L.P. v. Evolation Yoga, LLC, 803 F.3d 1032 (9th Cir. 2015). It looked to 17 U.S.C. § 102(b), holding that the sequence of exercises was excluded under the idea-expression dichotomy. The court cited the seminal Supreme Court case of Baker v. Selden, 101 U.S. 99 (1879), for the proposition that ideas, procedures, and processes fall instead within the purview of patent law.

The court also noted that, regardless of whether it was "beautiful," the Bikram Yoga sequence is a process to promote health and well-being. Tellingly, Choudhury himself claimed the sequence "is designed to scientifically warm and stretch muscles, ligaments, and tendons in the order in which they should be stretched."

The Ninth Circuit also rejected Choudhury's argument that the sequence was a compilation and that his "selection, coordination, and arrangement" of the exercises was protectable expression. It emphasized that just because "the Sequence may possess many constituent parts does not transform it into a proper subject of copyright...