In the serene world of downward dog yoga poses, where yoga is also practiced on the beach, yoga wars have erupted and made their way to the Ninth Circuit.

Two cases paint the canvas—one a copyright case and the other a First Amendment case. One involves Bikram Yoga trying to claim, through copyright, the exclusive right to practice and teach a specific set of 26 yoga poses. The other involves the City of San Diego attempting to ban yoga on the beaches.

Both cases provide a foundation to explore the basics of copyright law along with a primer on the First Amendment, to then find out whether or not, when yoga wars erupt in the realm of copyright and the First Amendment, yoga practitioners are the winners.