Magic Orthodoxy
06-29-2008, 06:22 AM
The questions you ask basically boil down to intellectual property issues.
It's true that a magic trick cannot be copyrighted but it can indeed be patented. Many creators have done so, particularly in the area of stage illusion. David Copperfield's "Flying" illusion, created by John Gaughn, for example, is patented and a diligent online search will even turn up the plans in precise detail. This is exactly why most won't go this route - the secret must be divulged to obtain a patent and in many magic effects, the secret is what gives the item its value.
This bring us to the current practice of taking, as you term, "old effects" and offering them in a spiffy, downloadable video format. Is this illegal?
It is if the original work (book, video, etc.) is still in print or production. The original copyright holder owns all intellectual property rights to the material and is the sole arbiter of how this material is disseminated. Taking tricks from a book, for example, and making them available as separate items dilutes the value of the original copyrighted work (the originating book) and lessens its value to the copyright holder.
This is almost always legally actionable. However, due to the expense incurred in bringing an action and the likelihood of the infringer being able to pay damages almost nil, most of these kinds of offenses go on unpunished except in the court of knowledgeable magicians' opinions. In all cases, however, if the material doesn't belong to the producer or express permission hasn't been obtained from the rightful copyright owner, offering the material in any form is absolutely unethical and these kinds of endeavors should never be supported by those who care for this art at all.
Things get trickier in the area of presentation. Now the _presentation_ for a trick is copyrightable as a dramatic piece (i.e. a script) but once again, this is rarely done. However, most professional performers try and respect others' signature pieces, even if they're represented in the literature and are fair game. For example, Ricky Jay took the classic "McDonald's Aces" trick and combined it with a presentation for an entirely different trick from Erdnase's classic book, "Expert at the Card Table."
Though both items are clearly represented in the literature and are fair game for magicians to use (provided they own the works in question), the hybrid is now clearly Ricky Jay's intellectual property as he was the first to combine these two unrelated pieces. Most performers wouldn't perform the trick in this way as it is widely seen as Ricky's creation.
We all stand on the shoulders of giants to a certain extent and it's not only respectful to give proper credit to those whose genius is behind a lot of the magic we think of as "old" and "public domain" today (it largely isn't, by the way), it's the right thing to do.
by Jim Sisti
It's true that a magic trick cannot be copyrighted but it can indeed be patented. Many creators have done so, particularly in the area of stage illusion. David Copperfield's "Flying" illusion, created by John Gaughn, for example, is patented and a diligent online search will even turn up the plans in precise detail. This is exactly why most won't go this route - the secret must be divulged to obtain a patent and in many magic effects, the secret is what gives the item its value.
This bring us to the current practice of taking, as you term, "old effects" and offering them in a spiffy, downloadable video format. Is this illegal?
It is if the original work (book, video, etc.) is still in print or production. The original copyright holder owns all intellectual property rights to the material and is the sole arbiter of how this material is disseminated. Taking tricks from a book, for example, and making them available as separate items dilutes the value of the original copyrighted work (the originating book) and lessens its value to the copyright holder.
This is almost always legally actionable. However, due to the expense incurred in bringing an action and the likelihood of the infringer being able to pay damages almost nil, most of these kinds of offenses go on unpunished except in the court of knowledgeable magicians' opinions. In all cases, however, if the material doesn't belong to the producer or express permission hasn't been obtained from the rightful copyright owner, offering the material in any form is absolutely unethical and these kinds of endeavors should never be supported by those who care for this art at all.
Things get trickier in the area of presentation. Now the _presentation_ for a trick is copyrightable as a dramatic piece (i.e. a script) but once again, this is rarely done. However, most professional performers try and respect others' signature pieces, even if they're represented in the literature and are fair game. For example, Ricky Jay took the classic "McDonald's Aces" trick and combined it with a presentation for an entirely different trick from Erdnase's classic book, "Expert at the Card Table."
Though both items are clearly represented in the literature and are fair game for magicians to use (provided they own the works in question), the hybrid is now clearly Ricky Jay's intellectual property as he was the first to combine these two unrelated pieces. Most performers wouldn't perform the trick in this way as it is widely seen as Ricky's creation.
We all stand on the shoulders of giants to a certain extent and it's not only respectful to give proper credit to those whose genius is behind a lot of the magic we think of as "old" and "public domain" today (it largely isn't, by the way), it's the right thing to do.
by Jim Sisti