Respondents deny violation of copyright

A plaint alleging trademark infringement by a mobile app featuring a yoga guru in the city chanting yoga sutras of Patanjali, a sage who codified yoga centuries ago, has been withdrawn by Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved Ltd on Tuesday.

A representative of Patanjali Ayurved had filed the trademark violation complaint against Chennai-based content developer Geethanjali of Super Audio Madras Ltd. and Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani, director, Centre for Yoga Therapy Education & Research (Cyter), Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth University, contending that ‘Patanjali’ being its trademark (Intellectual Property Rights), it had the exclusive rights for use and no one could use these without the company’s authorisation.

Apple which featured the app on its store was notified as well. However, the respondents denied any violation as the ancient traditional teachings of Patanjali are in public domain and documented through the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library of the Government of India, and stated that they had not projected any association with Patanjali Ayurved.

On Tuesday, the firm conveyed the withdrawal to the respondents that it was withdrawing the complaint and requested Apple to reinstate the app ld it have been taken down.

After the withdrawal, Mr. Bhavanani said he was thankful to Mr. Ramdev for his intervention.