I found this interesting article by Suketu Mehta regarding the IP protection of traditional knowledge concerning the Yoga practice (italian version).
As a matter of fact, a number of traditional Indian practices of Yoga have been recently put under protection under Copyright and Patent law by Indian people emigrated to the U.S.. From health care to culture, India is an enormous source of knowledge, but Indian people’s traditional way of thinking is opposite to the western one regarding who owns cultural heritage.
While western culture, as we all known, preserves private property, including intellectual creations, Indian culture promotes a diffused sharing of knowledge.
As a consequence, when the millenary culture of Yoga and Indian thinking are exported, it is freely appropriable by anyone. Therefore, anyone can protect a Yoga exercise as it was her own creation and so on. Needless to say the business related to the pharmaceutical industry, as the article duly highlights. So, have a nice reading and I think Hokusai will revert on the subject shortly.