I am in total agreement with the Indian Government. Yoga should not be patented by anyone, it is an Indian tradition. and as such it should be kept sacred. I practice Yoga, for what it is, spiritual enlightenement and the benefits of the asanas. " Let's keep the tradition alive and where it belongs.

I agree with Mailav Deilwala What the Americans are doing is very unethical and unprofessional .

E. COLLINS, El Paso, TX, USA

I am a beginning Yoga student. I wanted to learn Yoga to increase my flexibility and improve my health. I see no need to try some "new thing". If people would stop trying to look cool, then there would be no market for these so called "gurus" to make money off of something that should not be a business in the first place. The exact same thing has happened with Kabbala. All the marrow has been sucked out so all your left with is the bone with no spiritual nourishment. Ever learning, but never coming to the knowledge of the truth.

Sharita, League City, Texas

This is something done by people who can't invent anything new.. These are people who say that lifting the right arm instead of the left arm is his / her innovation and hence likes that to be patented sounds completely foolish..
Yoga is something practised in India for thousands of years.. Beware Indians.. If we are not aware of our rich traditions these Westerners will shamelessly patent everything and one day will say that these are their innovations and hence cannot be used by us without their permission...

Narayanan, Manchester, UK

its a fantastic opportunity to rake up some steam against uncle sam. Tell them to revoke the patents or else patents of pharmaceutical companies will be considered invalid in india.and cheap drugs produced.And bring it up publicly in an international forum. Would love to see the white house squirm over this.

Pinakin, toronto,

Copyright, trade marks and patens are three VERY DIFFERENT forms of intellectual property protection. I doubt that Mr Choudhury's IP (if any) will stop anyone doing anything. For a start, if you want to patent something, it has to be demonstrably new, and, as lamentable as standards of examination are the USPTO, even they get that right!

Ross Manning, London, UK

Kalpana,
You should read other articles by same author(Jeremy Page). You would go mad at his attitude. But I must point out that it is not Jeremy that is to be blamed. It is the whole western attitude toward rest of the world that is the problem. Jeremy is just a small part/product of it. Ever thought why the west calls developing countries as "third world", communists as "second world"...and the west ofcourse has to be the "first world". Having lived in the west for a long period of time I can attest to the fact that they have a certain bias of superiority complex. Unfortunately it also reflects on their foreign policies(nevermind countless "third worlders" that either pay with their lives of are badly affected).
Their are some exceptions, however, William Dalrymples new book about 1857 revolt is a good examples, another would be Sir Mark Tully. I personally find them very balanced, and moslty devoid of the illusions that most westeners like Mr. Page have.

Pank, Austin, USA

So American entrepreneurs make "efforts" while the Indian government "works itself into a furious twist." This sort of language encodes a bias that makes anything non-Western sound illogical and amusing. In fact, it is the American fat cats who are doing something that is both risible and immoral. What else does Jeremy Page find hilarious? The Western trade practices that keep African famers dirt- poor?

Kalpana, Southampton, Hampshire

As a practitioner of Hatha Yoga who can attest to some of the health benefits of this ancient and venerable practice (if one's time is at a premium only the 12 basic asanas, plus a few others if desired, are quite sufficient without having to run through the whole gamut of exercise to keep one in shape) I find it amusing that all that is required today is someone with a bit of the entrepreneurial spirit and the facility to spot a potential cash cow and he or she is soon on the way to earning their mega bucks! Whatever can be cannibalize or plagiarize is grist to the mill! What can be patented next?
The Tai Chi Chuan or perhaps, selected positions filched from the Kamasutra by some avid porn operator? Truly, it's not beyond the bounds of human ingenuity to think of various ways of making money. One lives by the 21st Century sacrosanct rule that nothing is sacrosanct anymore!

SD Goh, PJ, MALAYSIA

sigh...capitalists.....

Logan, London,

One way to protect the spirit of Yoga would be to come up with a new licensing scheme on lines of General Public Licence (GPL) developed by the open source software groups. This effectively forces anybody using and enhancing the available body of work to release the new body of work under the same licence.

This somehow makes sure that the spirit of public access remains sustained.

May be India government should think up such a licencing scheme and get Yoga covered under it.

suresh, Chennai,

Yoga and India are inseparable ..It is a part of our rich culture and it is horrible to think that such a thing as this is to get an US patent.It is a laughable idea this, the US patenting rights over indigenous knowledge that our ancestors gave to the world- even before Columbus discovered America.

M.G.Oviya, madurai, India

I think this is absolutely unethical and unprofessional. Americans should be restrained from doing all this again and again. The case of Basmati Rice, Turmeric and Tamarind are landmark examples for the same

What if we Indians starts patenting their age old technologies, would they ever tolerate this?

In my view Indian Govt. should take stringent steps against this recurring malafide practice by the Americans.

Malav Deliwala, Ahmedabad, India