Copyright and Exercise
- Copyright Protection in Exercise
- Copyright Limitations and Permissions
You can copyright an exercise routine. Copyright law protects original works like written descriptions or recordings. Copyright exists when a work is created. Registration provides additional rights.
An exercise isn’t usually protected. But descriptions or photos of exercises often have copyrights. Using small parts of copyrighted works for noncommercial purposes like education can be "fair use". But commercial use requires a license.
We own the copyright to our photos and descriptions. You must request permission to republish them, especially for commercial use. We may allow noncommercial use with attribution.
German copyright law permits limited personal copies. Writing exercises to solve math problems makes copies. Solving the same problem again copies it again.
Copyright requires an original work fixed in a tangible form. You can copyright slides or videos, but not unrecorded lectures. Fair use allows limited unpublished use for purposes like teaching. Four factors determine if a use is fair. Permission is needed beyond fair use.
Poses aren’t copyrightable. Fixing a pose in a tangible medium might allow copyright if sufficiently creative. Facts, ideas, procedures, or style aren’t protected. Only copyright owners authorize derivative works. But new works have separate copyrights.
Patenting and Exercises
- Patentability of Exercises
- Examples of Patentable Exercise Related Innovations
Can you patent an exercise?
You can’t patent exercises by themselves, even if the exercises are novel. Exercises are not a process, machine, or state of matter that transforms an item from one form into another. A series of physical movements is insufficient to be a process eligible for patent protection.
There are aspects of sports and exercises that may be patented if they satisfy certain regulations. For example, you could copyright the written rules of a new sport to establish ownership. Or you could patent a novel exercise apparatus that helps perform specific movements.
Peloton has successfully patented aspects of their online exercise systems related to spinning and treadmill classes. Such patents cover the equipment, connectivity, display and class delivery mechanisms that distinguish their systems from prior art.
What Cannot be Patented?
- Categories of Non-patentable Subjects
Which thing Cannot be patented?
Ideas, mathematical formulas and laws of nature cannot be patented. Discoveries of existing things also cannot be patented, only inventions. Software that purely performs calculations is not patentable, but software combined with a practical application can be. Inventions must have a useful purpose and meet other criteria like novelty to be patentable. Natural phenomena and artistic works cannot be patented but may get other protections. Abstract concepts without a specific application are not patentable. Previously undisclosed inventions can potentially get patent protection but public disclosures may preclude patents. While exercises themselves are not patentable, exercise equipment and methods may meet patentability standards under certain conditions.