talkmagic.co.uk

I know this has been talked about countless times but with awkward titles to the threads I could not find any reasonable info so will post again.

I have just seen a demo video ( a link I can post if required ) of an effect which would be classed as basic to any mentalist with a fun method and ending.
It retails at $200 for all the bits.

Now what’s the situation with creating my own version with my own props without purchasing the pre-made item/method.

Your thoughts..

Why else do you think we have 101 methods of not stabbing your hand on the market?

You can't patent the basic effect and even if it were mechanical, in the U.S. you only need to change the mechanical structure/design by 15% in order to get around the patent... in other words, STEAL AWAY it's one of the biggest trends in the world these days.

There's also an argument that in building it yourself, you'll customise it to you, adapt it to your performance style and maybe even take it along a completely different presentational path by the time you're finished.

Darwinism at work, methinks.

What you saw was essentially a plot, if you haven't bought the effect and therfore don't 100% know the method (however close you may think you are) you've basically come up with your own solution to the plot. So go ahead and use it.

It's a funny fact that all the anguishing in the world amongst us small fry won't make much difference to anything other than our own consciences. The big pirates like Magic Makers will go ahead and copy away merrily regardless, they're the ones that really deprive creators of their income.

Take it and adopt it as your own.






Just like all those Chinese babies .

FRK wrote:I know this has been talked about countless times but with awkward titles to the threads I could not find any reasonable info so will post again.

I have just seen a demo video ( a link I can post if required ) of an effect which would be classed as basic to any mentalist with a fun method and ending.
It retails at $200 for all the bits.

Now what’s the situation with creating my own version with my own props without purchasing the pre-made item/method.

Your thoughts..

Later. First, what do you think is the right thing to do?

It’s easy to listen to great rhetoric about how you should take the idea and make it your own or even create magical routines yourself.
Great ideas, but when your ideas are up against the best magical minds in the industry its hard not to ‘nabble’ bits.
Being a hobbyist any ‘nabbling’ I do will not impact on anybody’s income stream as I would never purchase the effect anyways.
This does not mean stealing is fine even if its intellectual rights but I see it more as singing an Elvis song with a white coat on and sideburns… harmless…

Click here. Somehow, I think that that pertains to the subject at hand.

Theft is theft, regardless of the logic that you use in an attempt to make it acceptable.

Mike.

I see were your coming from, I am not one to steal anything, but as I have read through most of the great magic reading material I probably ‘own’ the rights to most effects anyways.

There is the artist, and then there is the guy who paints by numbers and calls himself an artist. Choose.

My question becomes this. Did you see the demo and then think of how to do the effect yourself. Or did you think of the effect yourself and then see a demo for what you had already thought of? Based upon the way your post is written you saw the demo and decided to re-create it. That is stealing.

So I can’t use an idea I have seen unless I spend £200 on it even though it did not show the final reveal just implied it ?

Thing is you're not buying to outcome are you? you'd be buying the method! and if you can come up with your own method of achieveing said outcome then kudos to you!
i like the idea that if you havn't bought their big magic secret method then you really shouldn't know what it is and therefor shouldn't be able to recreate it, therefore... anything you come up with without copying an actual method is your own work.

now, i challenge you to point out the flaws in that.... Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

bmat wrote:There is the artist, and then there is the guy who paints by numbers and calls himself an artist. Choose.

My question becomes this. Did you see the demo and then think of how to do the effect yourself. Or did you think of the effect yourself and then see a demo for what you had already thought of? Based upon the way your post is written you saw the demo and decided to re-create it. That is stealing.

not neccessarily - think of coin in bottle...ample methods out there. Is there only one original and the others are stealing? You cannae say that all creators out there never saw an original!

I think that while we all hope that people selling us magic tricks are just asking for a small payment for something astounding, it's often the other way around. You might have to pay an astounding amount of money for something that's rather puny in a performance. A lot of people take advantage of new magicians by gutting them with huge prices for small tricks (Elussionist! *cough cough*)

I didn't say you could use it or not. I'm in no position to tell you what to do. I'm saying if you are copying method and or presentation then you are stealing. Technically I don't even think you can steal method in the legal sense unles the method is in the presentation. In the end it comes down to your ethical sense and best judgment. You could always try to get in touch with the creator and see what he/she thinks if it is weighing on you that heavily. Unless of course you have already made up your mind and just want to justify something here. And that last is not a slam in anyway. Just a retorical question.