Now Everyone Can Do Pilates

For years, trademark restrictions prevented most Pilates practitioners from calling their discipline by its rightful name.

Pilates was developed decades ago by Joseph Pilates, but Manhattan-based Sean Gallagher, owner of Pilates Studio, acquired the trademark and actively prevented anyone else from using it.

A suit brought by Sacramento-based Balanced Body, Inc., however, has changed all that.

Among the arguments considered and accepted by the court was the fact that Joseph Pilates had ''promoted his method of exercise and attempted to increase its use by the public'' and ''never did anything to prevent others from using (the) name to describe what they taught.''

The decision affects thousands of Pilates teachers, studios and manufacturers that have, heretofore, been prevented from using the word ''Pilates'' in any form.

According to Ken Endelman, president of Balanced Body, ''The public benefits from this decision because it will be easier to located studios which, until now, have been prevented from saying that they teach Pilates. This decision gives the public greater access to Pilates.''

This appeared in ACE FitnessMatters, ACE's official magazine.
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