Patent issued for filming a yoga class

The patent issued to an outfit called YogaGlo covers methods – a term used loosely here – for filming a yoga class and transmitting those images over the Internet.

The patent is so mindbogglingly ridiculous that two things have happened: The Electronic Frontier Foundation has bestowed upon it the organization’s “Stupid Patent of the Month” award; and, remarkably, the patent holder a few days ago announced that it has “decided to forfeit the issued patent.” (Read the announcement though and it’s clear YogaGlo hasn’t given up on the patent hunt altogether.)

As the EFF notes, the fact that YogaGlo says it will renounce the patent doesn’t make this tale any less instructive in terms of demonstrating the extent to which this country’s patent system is broken.

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