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How Effective Are The Exercises?
An Australian controlled clinical trial evaluating the Buteyko Breathing Technique showed that asthmatics utilizing the program were able to achieve a 90% reduction in bronchodilator or reliever medication and a 50% reduction in steroid medication. Preliminary results from a large (300 participant) placebo controlled trial taking place in Glasgow, show that of the active
Buteyko group, 98% reduced their use of reliever medications and 96% used less oral preventive medication. No significant changes were seen in the placebo group who received conventional asthma management. Dr. Buteyko himself conducted several studies in Russia on various conditions, including one on asthmatic children. This open trial on 52 children was conducted over three months in a Moscow Children’s Hospital. All children responded positively to some degree with self reported improvements in asthma, rhinitis
and nasal mucus. Children learned to control their own symptoms of asthma by
using the breathing exercises. After 5 days; 73% were able to discontinue all
medication and 15% were able to reduce medication.
The Buteyko method
system is a drug-free therapy for the management of asthma. It allows an
asthmatic maximum control of their asthma while using a minimum amount of their
prescription medications. The technique has been successfully practiced by over
one million citizens of the states that comprise the former Soviet Union.
Originally developed in 1952, the Buteyko Breathing Technique has
been proven successful for more than 50 years. Satisfaction
Guaranteed.
SC
SCOTT C. RAND Email:
scott.rand@mclane.com
Registered Patent Attorney Licensed in NH
May 28, 2011
Mr. Thomas
Yakovlev-Fredricksen
Director of
Education
Buteyko Center USA
LLC
P.O. Box 576
Woodstock, NY
12498-0576
Dear Mr. Yakovlev-Fredricksen:
We have now had an opportunity to investigate
your company’s claims of exclusive patent and trademark rights made in your
communications and postings. Please be assured that my client respects the
intellectual property rights of others and has no desire to infringe on any
legitimate patent, trademark or other intellectual property rights of Buteyko
Center USA LLC.
That said, we cannot in good conscience advise our client
to cease use of the Buteyko technique or the term BUTEYKO (or of any similar
mark, business name, etc.) that accurately describes services that are related
to the Buteyko breathing method or technique. We have come to the conclusion,
in light of the facts at hand and the relevant legal principles, that neither
our client nor its members are infringing any valid or enforceable right owned
by you or your company.
Turning first to your patent claim, we note
that you have repeatedly referred to the “patented Buteyko Method” on your
website and in your communications to my client’s members in which you state
that a license is required to use the Buteyko method commercially. We are not
aware of any patent covering the Buteyko method. Please identify by patent
number any patent(s) you feel may be infringed. Absent the existence of an
unexpired U.S. patent, we demand that you immediately withdraw your claim of
patent infringement and remove all statements and claims that the Buteyko method
is patented.
False claims of patent rights constitute
false advertising and unfair competition under state and federal law. In
addition, federal patent law has long made it unlawful to make a false claim of
patent rights. See 35 U.S.C. § 292. You should be aware that the
penalty for making a false claim of patent rights is potentially severe.
See, e.g., Forest Group, Inc. v. Bon Tool Co., 590 F.3d 1295 (Fed. Cir.
2009) (sanctioning up to $500 fine for each and every occurrence of false
marking); Polytree Co., Ltd. v. Forests Manufacturing, Ltd., Case No.
1-09-cv-03377 (N.D. Ga. December 20, 2010) (defendant fined $2,339,100 for false
patent marking); King Tuna, Inc. v. Anova Food, Inc., Case No. CV07-07451
(C.D. Cal. February 24, 2011) (company fined $1.8 million for false patent
marking).
Unless you or your company own or otherwise
have rights in an unexpired U.S. patent, we expect that you will remove all
claims of patent rights on your website, marketing materials, etc., and that you
will govern yourself and your company accordingly.
Turning now to your alleged trademark rights in
the term “BUTEYKO” we disagree with the position that your company has any
rights in that term. As you are undoubtedly aware, the term “BUTEYKO” is a
descriptive and generic term for the well-known Buteyko breathing technique that
takes its name from the late Ukrainian doctor Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko and
that has long been in widespread use by others in the United States, well before
your company was organized. Given the descriptive/generic nature of the term,
we do not believe you have any enforceable rights in the term.
U.S. Service Mark Registration No. 3,822,070
for BUTEYKO is subject to cancellation for descriptiveness, genericness, and
fraud. Yet, despite the descriptive/generic nature of the mark, not once during
the application process did you ever fairly, sufficiently or accurately indicate
to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office that the term “BUTEYKO” had many
pre-existing, widespread descriptive and generic uses in the United States and
around the world, or that the term had already long been associated with other
people, businesses, and organizations. Similarly, with respect to your
company’s pending service mark application Serial No. 77/772,822, the claim of
the exclusive right to use made therein, despite the descriptive/generic nature
of the mark and the prior use of others, is completely unsupported. Indeed, the
record of your communications with Mr. McKeown and others proves you were very
much aware of the prior use of the term BUTEYKO by other for business purposes
in the United States. We will be monitoring this application and any future
trademark filings in the future to ensure that no more dubious registrations are
issued.
In short, we consider your claims of
infringement based on non-existent patent rights and unenforceable trademark
rights to be vexatious and in bad faith. Such actions have cumulatively
interfered with the legitimate livelihood and have harmed the reputation of
numerous BBEA members. You have
interfered with the right of persons to contract with others (a tort), you have
disparaged their good name (defamation), you have damaged their professional
abilities (libel), and you have interfered with their right to earn a living
legitimately. Moreover, you have undertaken these actions in the full knowledge
that you do not have any patent rights and that you are not entitled to
exclusive trademark/service mark use of the term “BUTEYKO.”
Because neither the BUTEYKO method or mark are
exclusive to you or your company, we cannot advise our client and its members
that they are not entitled to use BUTEYKO or continue to provide their
BUTEYKO-related services without a license.
We consider the issues of patent and trademark
infringement raised in your letter to be closed and expect that you will do the
same. Further, we also expect that you will immediately update your website to
remove all reference to the alleged patent rights in the Buteyko method and all
statements or suggestions that you or your company have the exclusive right to
use the term BUTEYKO in the United States.
We have, however, advised our client to
institute proceedings to cancel the Registration No. 3,822,070 and seek damages
for the harm done to my client and its members should you continue to pursue
this unsupported course of action, whether it be by further harassing letters,
disparaging statements to others, continued false claims of exclusivity with
respect to the BUTEYKO mark or method, maligning posts on your website regarding
the rights or abilities of others, or otherwise. |
Developed by Professor Konstantin Buteyko from Russia, after years of scientific research,
the Buteyko method is based upon the standard medical principals of respiration, the normalization of breathing and the Bohr Effect.