No patents given on Yoga postures: US

After a furore over reports there was a move to patent Yoga Asanas (postures) in America, the US today said its patent office has granted exclusivity to certain new and "non-obvious" devices, but not the postures.

"Although the US government is unaware of any US patents on Yoga, the US Patent and Trademark Office has granted patents on new and non-obvious devices that may be used in conjunction with Yoga. However, those patents would not include any Yoga positions," a US Embassy statement said.

It said the US government has conducted a search of all patents issued and no patents on Yoga postures have been identified. The US government has already clarified the same to the Commerce Ministry, it added.

"Recent reports alleging that such patents exist are inaccurate," the statement said.

Earlier, reports had suggested Indian-origin Yoga teacher Bikram Choudhury had applied for copyrights for his method of practising Yoga. Subsequently, the Indian government had taken up the issue with the US government.

The country has, in the meanwhile, started an exercise to translate Sanskrit hymns describing Yoga Asanas in English, French and German among other languages and send them to patent offices in other countries so as to avoid the country's traditional knowledge from being patented.