Exercise trademark revoked
The Japan Patent Office has revoked the trademark it had awarded to a Japanese businessman for the commercial use of the name of an ancient Thai exercise - rusie dut ton or hermit body twists.
The name refers to a style of posture-based exercises that can be traced back to the reign of King Rama I.Controversy broke out after Masaki Furuya registered the Thai phrase and his English translation, "Rusiedutton", for the print media and his Thai massage and yoga business. Although his company website purports to promote the routine as Thai massage, along with pictures of the poses, concerns were raised that anyone else trying to use the term, especially operators of Thai massage businesses, would be prohibited from doing so. The Intellectual Property Department submitted a letter of protest to the Japan Patent Office a year ago, arguing that the steps were created with Thai local wisdom and must be reserved as the intellectual property of Thailand. Also, Furuya is not a Thai citizen and did not receive official permission from the School of Thai Traditional Medicine at Wat Po.
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