talkmagic.co.uk

Hey up kids

How do yougo about copyrighting an effect / idea for an effect. Not that it matters at this point but I would still like to know?

I have a killer effect in mind that NO ONE has ever done before as far as I know otherwise Id own it

You cant copyright the idea.

When you publish it in a book, the book can be copywritten. If in a dvd, the footage will be copywritten.

Magic is highly based on ethics. But there will always be one guy that will take the idea and claim it as his own. As long as he uses his own words, own footage, name, its legal.

and a Patent is useless, as the secret will then be free to every one.

it's mad. but basically, you can't! you can get footage done so you can say "hey, look, i did this first" but since other people can come up with other methods, or slightly other ways of explaining how you do it, so you're basically buggered.

The product (book, DVD, etc.) containing the idea is automatically copyrighted to you (or whoever you sold the first rights to), but unfortunately the idea you're writing about isn't thought of as prior art in law.

I wonder if anyone has tried to patent a magical process, because processes can be patented, but it must be publicly described, which is a swine for methods.

Tomo wrote:The product (book, DVD, etc.) containing the idea is automatically copyrighted to you (or whoever you sold the first rights to), but unfortunately the idea you're writing about isn't thought of as prior art in law.

I wonder if anyone has tried to patent a magical process, because processes can be patented, but it must be publicly described, which is a swine for methods.

I know the LEAN has been patented.
And David Copperfiled owns performing rights to some effects.

Thats fine, along the lines of what I thought.

I have a couple of well known guys who have offered to develop my effect if I send my ideas to and they work, which I got confirmation of this evening that it bloody well does, so Ill take it from here.

I have no reason to distrust anyone, its just a passing thought I wanted clarifying.

I wont get carried away but Im bloody excited Id be happy to keep it to myself anyway but I wont

Here's a discussion of the topic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectu ... ic_methods

According to that article, and as has been discussed already, the effect can't be copyrighted, but the written/videotaped material can.

For further protection, you can draft a Confidential Disclosure Agreement. These are perfect for stage hands, stooges, etc., but can be applied to the actual effects as well. I suppose you could state that purchasing the effect enters the buyer into a legally binding contract where s/he cannot share the information.

Here is my CDA, taken from a sample documents library, changed to suit my purposes, and looked over by my lawyer.
http://www.roblaughter.com/docs/CDA.pdf

Granted, I can't offer you legal advice, but these are the steps that I have taken in order to safeguard what proprietary information I have and, to the best of my ability, I can tell you exactly who knows what when it comes to my material.

Ciao,
Rob

I believe BlackHart does a thing were there's a seal on the package - and once you break it, if you disclose the secret or make copies, then you are breaking a contract of sorts and he'll sue you through all seven circles of hell...

think so anyway...

As long as you let people know you created it, and when you did it, word would get around the magic community pretty quick if someone ripped your idea off. (If it's something that comes in manuscript form that won't stop people bundling into a PDF and selling it on Ebay though).

A Confidential Disclosure Agreement is a very good procedure to use when you're dealing with customers and providers.

Rob, thanks for giving an example!

abraxus wrote:I believe BlackHart does a thing were there's a seal on the package - and once you break it, if you disclose the secret or make copies, then you are breaking a contract of sorts and he'll sue you through all seven circles of hell...

think so anyway...

I don't know if they still do it, but Microsoft used to use the same tactic to enforce the EULA.

Yes they did, but it's complete nonsense because you can't read the EULA until you've broken the seal.