Who owns rights to "The Method"?
 

I know that TA calls her program "The Method," but way back when, "The Method" referred to a series of DVDs which featured Jennifer Kries and other instructors, including Tracy Mallett. They went through several incarnation, including being called "The New Method" at one point. Now, I believe that they are now "The Method Pilates," although I think that all the old instructors are gone, and they seem to have taken on a rather bizarre turn:
http://themethodpilates.com/

Am I wrong? Is that a completely different outfit? Today I also stumbled across this video on Amazon that was just released this month; it is also billed as a "The Method" series DVD (DVD-R, actually):
http://smile.amazon.com/Method-Cardi...eywords=cardio

I thought it looked interesting, and when I found a photo of the back of the DVD cover, I could see that there were several other DVDs in the series, but I couldn't find any other info or a web site.

I'm just curious about this and would love some clarification!

Answering my own question, at least in part. I think that the DVD I found today may have been a re-packaged, re-release...I should have known! Here's how I figured it out:

Old The Method "Dance to Fitness" with Jennifer Kries & Lisa Wheeler:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-...an=71083562761

New listing on Amazon for The Method "Dance to Fitness" with Jennifer Kries & Lisa Wheeler:
http://smile.amazon.com/Method-Dance...method+fitness

On another note, thank you for letting me know about Amazon "Smile", Beth.

Gina, I guess that was accidental--my Amazon is set to the non-profit hotline center where my mom is executive director. ;)

Jennifer Kries marketed her workouts under the name "The Method" back when the term Pilates was still of questionable legal status (I think family/students of Joseph Pilates/someone sent cease and desist orders to anyone who used to term). When someone finally launched a legal challenge, the term was found to be too generic for copyright protection. Originally Jennifer Kries' series was only Pilates, so the descriptor "The Method" was a subtle way to allude to the fact that it was the Pilates Method without actually saying so. But she hasn't titled any of her workouts that for years, likely because she's now allowed to use the term Pilates. Even if Kries was still using the phrase "The Method" I don't think she would have much success with legal protection against someone like Tracy Anderson. If the term Pilates was found to be too generic, I imagine the phrase "The Method" probably would be, too.

Beth - "The Method" workouts have been issued in sets of 4 and seen at Target, and it might be Gaiam. here's a thread about it.

at Target, they've repackaged some of the Crunch workouts too, but not sure if Gaiam is the issuer.

i just know i'd strangle myself trying to position those contraptions.:sun:

I owned the two original Method tapes with Jennifer Kries. They were called Precision Toning and Precision Sculpting. Later they were combined onto one dvd. The word Pilates was never mentioned in either one of the workouts, but the exercises were classic Pilates.

Later on the Method expanded into other things, including some dance style dvds. They also had a TV show on the old Exercise TV channel for a while.
I think a lot of the TV segments were later released on various dvds. They were releasing a lot of dvds there for a while.

It's confusing because Jennifer Kries released other Pilates style dvds, but I don't it think was with the original Method company.

TA came along later. I don't think she has any type of connection to the older Method company. I don't think it would be possible to copyright the term Method so anyone can use it.

From Jennifer Kries' website bio:

"Her award-winning videos, The Method Series, Jennifer Kries DVDs, and Fit TV's The Method Show, revolutionized the fitness community and started the explosive wave of enthusiasm for Pilates and mind/body exercise."

I think The Method Series is when she did Pilates.
The Method Show is when she started including other instructors and other disciplines (dance, kickboxing etc.). Lots of those workouts were put on DVD in strange formats that made it clear they were from a TV show.

I'm guessing the latest videos - from the past 5 or more years - where she seems to focus a lot more on disciplines besides Pilates - is when she really gave up on the term "The Method" and that's what "Jennifer Kries DVDs" refers to. Regardless, she clearly has nothing to do with the marionette equipment Method Pilates people.

Video copyrights and trademarks are a legal maze, some of which may never be resolved.

Here are just a few of the trademarks and/or copyrights having legal issues:
Billy Blanks TaeBo
Kukuwa LAC
Misty Tripoli Groove Method
Brandi Woodard Yodates

and add to the above
Jessica Smith has to be very careful about her youtube music or risk losing her youtube account.

When I tried to get permission to share OOP content, I found out that Ellen Barrett, Gin Miller, and Sarina Condello (the Barefoot Dancer) do not even know who owns the rights to many of their creations.
Nia is afraid to offer their vhs footage online because of music copyright issues.
Many production companies have gone bankrupt and the rights to their content are either unknown or owned by larger companies who bought their content cheaply like Gaiam.
The copyright laws are outdated and not protecting the people they were intended to protect. So we have hundreds of wonderful routines rotting away on vhs and even some OOP dvds as well.

Barb S

There's a registered trademark symbol on the logo, but trademarks have to be defended to remain viable. If the lawyers for whomever now owns the content don't care to pursue the matter, it's pretty much up for grabs.

With so many workout "Methods" out there--TA, Bar Method, Dailey Method, etc.--it seems like a word instructors would want to stay away from to avoid confusion!