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Intellectual rights to magic methods is the extent to which proprietary or exclusive rights may subsist in the way magic tricks (ie. illusions) are performed, or the methods by which magic tricks are achieved. Certain types of intellectual property law have been proposed in support of such views. Image File history File links Stop_hand. ... Proprietary indicates that a party exercises private ownership, control or use over an item of property, usually to the exclusion of other parties. ... In law, an exclusive right is the power or right to perform an action in relation to an object or other thing which others cannnot perform. ... Harry Houdini, one of the greatest names in magic history. ... Intellectual property, or IP, refers to a legal entitlement which sometimes attaches to the expressed form of an idea, or to some other intangible subject matter. ...

Copyright

Copyright does not subsist in the concept embodied by a magic trick, or any outcome achieved by way of such tricks. Intellectual property laws generally do not apply to the ideas which underlay the subject matter in relation to which legal protection is sought (see idea-expression divide). For example, in the United States, the Copyright Act provides that: Copyright symbol. ... An idea (Greek: ιδέα) is a specific concept which arises in the mind of a person as a result of thought. ... In intellectual property law, the idea-expression divide is the principle which states that the function of the law is to protect the fixed expression or manifestation of an idea, rather than the fundamental concept or information which gives rise to the idea. ...

In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work.

However, the description of a magic method is a realised expression, and thus may be copyrighted; and the actual magic act performed by a particular magician may also be considered a realisation.

This means that, in most cases, revealing a magic secret—even one that is on sale elsewhere—is not a copyright infringement, provided the description is not a verbatim copy of another description that is otherwise available, and does not include details of a particular magician's stage adaptations of the trick. Copyright infringement (also known as piracy) is the unauthorized use of copyrighted material in a manner that violates one of the copyright owners exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works that build upon it. ...

In other words, if a magician writes a pamphlet which describes how a trick works, the pamphlet is copyrighted, but the trick itself is not. The magician would have the same exclusive rights in the written pamphlet as an author has in a book, but the magician would not be able to prevent people from doing what was described in the pamphlet. ^{[citation needed]}

Patent

A few tricks can be patented and some (such as the theatrical effect Pepper's ghost) have been: however, the trick's method would then have to be disclosed and held on public file as part of the patent application. Even if a magic trick is patented, the patent does not prevent anyone from revealing how the trick works, the patent only prevents practicing, performing, or making a device to perform the trick without permission. ^{[citation needed]} A viewer looking through the red rectangle sees a ghost floating next to the table. ...

Trade secret

There are also laws related to trade secret and contract which may apply if a person exposing a magical method has a) been required to sign a contract when they learned the trick, or b) been taught the trick by another magician, who did so on the understanding that the learner was a magician planning to use it in their act. A trade secret is a confidential practice, method, process, design, the know-how or other information used by a business to compete with other businesses. ... All the textbooks define a contract as either a promise or an agreement that is enfored or recognised by the law. ...

Although the definition of trade secret varies between jurisdictions, it only protects information that is not publicly known and is intentionally kept confidential. For example, any method that is available in the public library is obviously not protected. ^{[citation needed]}

Ethics

It should be noted that there are ethical issues associated with exposing magical methods publicly. One of the largest magician societies in the world, the International Brotherhood of Magicians, has a Code of Ethics which states: Exposure in magic refers to the practice of making magical methods (the secrets of how magic tricks are performed) available to those who are not magicians (usually defined as those who have not demonstrated some commitment to magic as a performance art, but occasionally further refined to those who are... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Ethical codes are specialized and specific codes of ethics. ...

All members of the International Brotherhood of Magicians agree to oppose the willful exposure to the public of any principles of the Art of Magic, or the methods employed in any magic effect or illusion.

The Brotherhood advises that any individual who is a professional or amateur magician should be aware that "exposing" the methods of an illusion may result in damage to their relations among other magicians.

See also

• Code of non-infringement
• Exposure (magic)
• Masked Magician

The Code of non-infringement (or The Code) refers to the accepted business practice and custom among certain performance artists, particularly clowns, that an artists unique performance attributes are proprietary and cannot be used or claimed by another. ... Exposure in magic refers to the practice of making magical methods (the secrets of how magic tricks are performed) available to those who are not magicians (usually defined as those who have not demonstrated some commitment to magic as a performance art, but occasionally further refined to those who are... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Val Valentino. ...

References

• US copyright office statement on non-protection of methods or principles described in copyrighted works
• Bitlaw page on works unprotected by copyright
• The International Brotherhood of Magicians (anti-exposure) code of ethics

External links

• Intellectual property forum at intelprolaw.com