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New User
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| Hello. Does anyone know if the entire agreement is legal under US laws? Specifically these sections of the Bikram Yoga Teacher Training Agreement:
"4.1 Right to Teach at Authorized Studios. Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, and receipt of your Certification, Bikram grants you the right to teach the Bikram’s Beginning Yoga Class using the Bikram Yoga System at any Authorized Studio that engages or employs you to teach at such studio. You may only offer and teach Bikram’s Beginning Yoga Class in strict conformity with the guidelines established by Bikram, in his sole discretion, and supplied to you from time to time, provided that you shall not offer or teach the Bikram’s Beginning Yoga Class or any other class associated with Bikram or the Bikram Yoga System through any business or establishment that is not an Authorized Studio as determined in Bikram’s sole discretion."
and..
"7.3 Covenants Relating to Unfair Competition. You agree that you shall not directly or indirectly compete with Bikram during the term of this Agreement. For purposes of the preceding sentence, you will be deemed to compete with Bikram if you engage in any of the following activities:
(i) acquiring, developing, owning, operating, maintaining or having any other interest (including as an owner, partner, director, officer, employee, manager, consultant, shareholder, creditor, representative or agent) in any business that derives at least 50% of its revenue from providing yoga classes and/or selling yoga related products anywhere within the United States (a “Competitive Business”), other than owning an interest of five percent (5%) or less in a Competitive Business that is a publicly traded company;
(ii) teaching yoga from any location other than an Authorized Studio;
(iii) diverting or attempting to divert any business from Bikram (or another Authorized Studio) to a Competitive Business; or
(iv) inducing either (a) any of Bikram’s employees or managers or the employees or managers of an Authorized Studio to leave the employ of said party or (b) any student of Bikram’s (or a student of an Authorized Studio) to transfer their business away from Bikram or the Authorized Studio, as applicable, to you or to any other person that is not then an Authorized Studio.
For the two (2) year period immediately following the termination or expiration of this Agreement, you agree that you will not engage in either of the activities described in Section 7.3(iii) or Section 7.3(iv)."
What I'm trying to find out is if it's legally legitimate (1) to not allow certified bikram instructurs to teach at non- bikram affiliated studios (2) to not allow certified bikram instructors to teach any other forms of yoga or work at/for anything related to yoga.
Any information or insight would help.
Thank you & Namaste,
Alex
Edited by alexbrok 2011-04-21 2:33 AM
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Member
Posts: 34
Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand | Sat 23 Apr 2011, 7:34 am
Hi Alex,
Your question is a good one, but it misses the point. I am the furthest thing from being an attorney, but my intuition says that the provisions you cite probably might not stand up in a court test. But so what? Who is going to test it? From what I have read, Bikram is a rich, aggressive bastard who jealously protects his system (or the system that he stakes claim to as "his"). It would take somebody (or somebodies) as rich and aggressive as he is to duke it out in court. Who is gong to do that? In the mean time, you go out and open a yoga studio, his lawyers send you a "cease and desist" letter. What is your next move? Cut to the chase: you probably don't have a next move. Think of it more as a chess game that a strictly "legal" issue.
Aloha,
Rex |
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New User
Posts: 4
| Are you attending now? Did you want to learn Bikram's method and then have the opportunity to go elsewhere? |
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New User
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| Rexall: Thanks for replying. I see what you're saying and you make a valid point. Who has the time, money or energy to go to court and "fight" bikram choudhury. It's unfortunate how greedy Bikram has become. One minute Bikram says "these yoga postures do not belong to me, they belong to everyone" but then he turns around and copyrights his 26 poses and prevents his "certified teachers" from pursuing any other type of yoga career.
Veghead: I already teach and have been certified for many years. The owner of the studio I work at told all of us teachers that we cannot teach at any "non-affiliated" studio and if we do we can no longer hold our position at our current bikram studio - and as a result a lot of us were forced to choose (and as a result we are losing income - teachers don't make enough to begin with so this is creating a hardship).
I live in a small city and there are more Bikram teachers than there are studios, so naturally there aren't enough classes to go around AND we HAVE to make a living. Being told to quit our other teaching jobs or else we will no longer have a job at our Bikram studio is very frustrating - so that is ONE of the reason I'm trying to find out the legality behind the above limitations.
Edited by alexbrok 2011-04-26 7:17 PM
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Member
Posts: 34
Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand | I don't know what the marketability of Bikram is compared to a more generic "Hot Yoga" or "Hot Power Yoga." I know they are not the "same," but are you telling me that Spanish is REALLY better than Portuguese or vice versa? People were happy as pigs in mud doing various styles of yoga for millennia before Bikram came along. Absolute Yoga in Thailand--a large, powerful, upscale chain of studios, and the most expensive studio in UNIVERSE--offers Hot Yoga at all of its branches. They certainly were in a position to do Bikram if they felt it superior economically and stylistically to what they offer. They are not hurting, I can assure you! Just go into their intimidating, fancy-schmancy changing rooms; that those fluffy white towels and Italian marble is blinding! I think Bikram used to be a towel boy there in one of his past lives! ;o}
I assume that Bikram has strong brand recognition and marketability or this discussion would be irrelevant. HOWEVER, do a "cost-benefit" analysis of teaching something like Hot Yoga, which IS marketable, which would allow you to use your Bikram knowledge and training, and also free you up to offer other styles of yoga--including any new fads to come along--at any location, in any venue, in any way you like and according to your preferred business model, without feeling like a chattel to Papa Bikram. I realize you have an investment, etc., etc., etc. But you also have a dilemma, and the solution to a dilemma may be to reinvent yourself and reinvent your business/marketing model. And no one can take what you have already gained from Bikram away from you. I assume you can still do the 26 at home if you keep the shades drawn? ;o}
Aloha,
Rex |
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New User
Posts: 4
| If you signed that agreement when you took the training, I would think that the contract would be enforcable.
If you really want to investigate this, you may want to find some other teachers in the same situation and and share the cost to consult an attorney. |
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Veteran
Posts: 243
| If I'm reading your post correctly, has your studio asked you not to teach any kind of yoga anywhere else or only no hot yoga or no bikram yoga at studios that are not affiliated?
Here is my take on this- Bikram Choudry probably has no idea that you exist and teach his yoga in an affiliated studio and he is certainly not going to know if you are teaching other kinds of yoga at other kinds of studios. However Bikram is not paying your paycheck- your studio owner is, and they will know if you are teaching hot yoga/bikram somewhere else. They have a right to say who teaches at their studio, and if they don't want teachers teaching at non-affiliated studios, they can certainly enforce that.
Has there been a meeting with the studio owners and the teachers there about this- if all the teachers feel the same way, you have some power there and your stance is not unreasonable- if they don't have enough classes for you, then you and other teachers need to find some way to make more money. Maybe they would re-consider if all or at least some of the teachers presented their case.
But they may not be willing to change that stance, and then you have to weigh your options- what do you get paid at your studio, is it more or less than other studios? how many classes do you get at your studio, is it more or less than what you could get from other studios combined? You may well have to make a decision, I don't think you have legal recourse in this case. Do you have a contract with your studio owners that goes over this? |
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New User
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| Yoga-addict, you have read correctly! My studio owner does want us (teachers) to teach any any non-affiliated hot yoga studio that teaches bikram yoga. We've been told if we do teach for a non-affiliate, we can no longer teach at our Bikram affiliate studio.
The problem is, while we are getting some classes, we're not getting enough to make a living. We have not gone over or signed a contract with our studio owner. In fact, I don't think any of us have signed any type of employment contract with the studio owner besides a W4 form. The owners pretty much make up studio/employment rules up as issues arise. Nothing is in writing, everything is sent to us electronically. Just a lot of emails being sent out explaining 'rules' telling us what we can and can't do.
The teachers have not officially met to discuss this but a majority of us are on the same page about teaching at non-affiliate studio. However, we all did sign the teacher training contract with Bikram prior to going to training stating that we could not teach at non-affiliate studios. I didn't realize at the time, but I recently went back to re-read the contract and found it on there.
Thanks for your input, much appreciated. |
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Member
Posts: 9
| @alexbrok: Is this an on going issue for some bikram yoga teachers? |
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Is the Bikram teacher training Agreement completely legal?
