I enjoy their helpful suggestions of "other" ways to film your yoga classes... at awkward angles, or outside!
YogaGlo Update
21–30 of 73 posts
Re: YogaGlo Update
#22I am glad the USPTO granted this patent. It shows how ridiculously idiotic the patent system is in America at the moment.
Re: YogaGlo Update
#23They are definitely soliciting people to respond on that statement page, I'm sure of it. That, or they're making accounts to validate themselves against the people who ARE real. Or people really just don't care, which is entirely possible, but I won't let my faith sink that low just yet. If you'd patent a camera angle then you'd probably have no problem creating accounts to bolster your ego.
They're moderating the negative responses.
Re: YogaGlo Update
#24Does prior art mean anything with the US First to File system? Is anyone looking through old DVD or VHS videos of Yoga lessons, or through Youtube (or similar) video sites? This strikes me as another reason why DMCA is bad. Backing up an old VHS tape might require breaking the macrovision copy protection. Yet it's important to keep this old stuff around because it might be useful in cases like this.
I only have one upvote to give you. This should be a top comment on any thread dealing with patents OR copyrights.
Re: YogaGlo Update
#25"UPDATE: We really are douches."
Re: YogaGlo Update
#26> Below are a few visual examples of what our patent protects. Note, there are many other ways companies and teachers can create yoga classes that do not look anything like YogaGlo’s classes: I discounted every single word they said after seeing the pictures! I cannot believe any sane person, much less a patent official, can believe that those ought to be patentable. What came to mind was a Sanskrit proverb many Indi…
I can't wait for movie directors and cinematographers to patent their styles.
Tim Burton better patent the ability to use Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in a movie together.
Re: YogaGlo Update
#27Is this from The Onion?
Re: YogaGlo Update
#28Re: YogaGlo Update
#29Since this is relevant to the tech community let me paint a picture before people start sharpening the pitchforks...
I've been meeting with investors recently and one of the most common questions/comments has been - "Why can't someone else just do the same thing? Can a group of Stanford grads build this in a weekend?" This line of questioning is relevant to pretty much all startups today.
The reality is, from what I can tell, to build YogaGlo, you could build this in a month with a fairly decent tech team and a little bit of hustle. Now imagine you're the CEO of YogaGlo today and an investor asks you these questions. Easy answer - "they can't, we have a patent". Think of this in another light. What happens if the company goes bust and there are no physical assets to liquidate? A patent (or IP) is an asset that can be sold. (think Nortel[1])
We've significantly lowered the barrier to pretty much every industry in the world. The production cost of one of these yoga classes can't be more than $100 per video and yet can reach a million in a click of a button. Since it's so "easy", we come full circle back to how important ownership, rights, IP and patents are. Otherwise your business is simply another replaceable middle man.
However here is where I believe YogaGlo has just screwed up in playing this game. Because it's so easy to reproduce their IP, companies like YogaGlo should be focusing on mindshare, and less about patentability and competition. Create such good relationships with yoga instructors and the people watching the videos that they wouldn't dare go to the competition. This sentence stuck out more than anything: "Several companies offered to buy us, invest, license our technology, or hire YogaGlo to film their classes. When we declined, a few grew unhappy with us." You declined?! Are you out of your mind? Why not become the de facto company for licensing your technology, filming other Yoga classes, etc? That's how you build mindshare - and mindshare is IMHO the "new IP".
Re: YogaGlo Update
#30I basically read "this is an incredibly strict patent. We didn't blatantly patent filming from the back of the class. Our patent only applies when the camera can see the teacher."
I've followed online yoga sites for years and this is by far the most common and obvious way of filming a class.