Category: Magic Law

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Latest Magic News, Magic Law, Magic of UK

Actress Accuses Magician Ex of Abuse

Inside Magic's Famous BunnyDiane Neal, a former  actress on “Law and Order: SVU” claims her magician ex-boyfriend physically and sexually abused her and her pets.   She accuses magician JB Benn of being a con artist as well as a “manipulative and maniacal fraudster,” according to  The Daily Mail.

The musician Moby posted his disbelief.  “I’ve seen JB do magic at least 250 times and each time I’m just as stunned as the last. Some of his magic shouldn’t be possible, and it makes my brain hurt in the best possible ways.’

According to The Daily Mail, the magician allegedly “defrauded her of millions” and “violently inflicted emotional distress” in a “campaign of isolation, terror and (physical and sexual) assault, and destroyed her reputation by doing so.”

According to Page Six, on Wednesday, Mr. Benn pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge resulting in a $200.00 fine and a two-year protection plan for Ms. Neal.

 

As in any story of this ilk, there are terrible claims and accusations; including injury to their pet.  Most of which we won’t print here because they turn our stomach and makes us sad.

If you want to read more, see pictures of the couple and their home, you can read The Daily Mail‘s coverage.

Magic Law, Magic News

Magic and Law: Can You Copyright a Trick?
Blaine's Fame is Apparently a Secret
Our Secret

No.

It is a short answer and gets us out of writing a big, long-winded piece on the legalities but perhaps inadequate.

We are not alone in our opinion.  We direct you to a great article by great  Magician and Lawyer Guy Hollingworth from 2008 about an art designed to avoid laws of nature.

It is comforting to see that the country from which we have derived the greater part of our legal system, has not backslid into the easy but philosophically unsound world where an idea can be protected.  The United Kingdom wants to encourage innovation but draws understands it must draw the line somewhere.

In the case of magic tricks, one can patent the method to perform the effect or even copyright the patter used to describe and deceive; but one may not protect the idea behind the trick itself.

For instance, the secret behind our now-classic Marked One-Way Forcing Deck can be stolen by just about anyone.  Of course, some print critics of our invention have suggested “[w]hy would anyone want to steal the idea of a One-Way Forcing Deck that is marked as well?” Regardless, it is not being knocked-off or copied by folks looking to cash in on our genius.  We like to think that is because our brothers and sisters in Magic are ethical folk.

By the way, we will soon announce the follow-up to the Marked One-Way Forcing Deck, The Inside Magic Marked Billiard Balls.  No longer will you have to guess about the location of any particular billiard ball whilst you make them appear or disappear.

Continue reading “Magic and Law: Can You Copyright a Trick?” →

Magic Law

Free Magic Summer Reading from Conjuring Arts Center!

Inside Magic Library Cover Page for Happy Hollisters and the Perfect FarosWe love to read magic books and love to read free magic books even more.

There are two types of  free magic books: 1) those in the public domain; and, 2) those that are not in the public domain but are being illegally copied and distributed by some evil person or persons.

We shy away from illegal anything and especially illegally copied books.  Perhaps it is our day job as an Intellectual Property attorney that has biased us against counterfeit and knock-offs.

Maybe if we were not so aware of how authors and inventors dedicate so much of their lives to creating the property others hope to steal, we would be all for the theft.  Maybe not, though.  It still seems wrong.

But what are you going to do, the cynics ask.  Everyone steals and books cost too much and they are only stealing a single, virtual copy and they pay for almost every book other than this one and they were raised by Honey Badgers so they don’t really care.

We know readers of Inside Magic are not like Honey Badgers.

Our readers do care about doing right and avoiding doing wrong.  Our readers are good people.

That’s why the news from The Conjuring Arts Research Center is so exciting to us.

The Conjuring Arts  folks are launching their perfectly timed summer reading program today.

At Conjuring Arts we believe that some of the greatest secrets of magic can only be discovered by reading great books. Every week until the end of the summer we will be giving away a FREE! PDF download of a great magic book. The book will be available for download for absolutely free from the beginning until the end of the week at which time a different free book will be given in its place. Please enjoy reading these classics of magic and spread the word about our FREE Summer Reading Program with your friends!

We promise that if you download each book each week you will have the beginnings of a Great magic library.

We just downloaded their fully bookmarked edition of The Expert at the Card Table.  It looks great and even has line and chapter numbers like you would find in a bible for those who treat the book like the bible of card magic that it is. Continue reading “Free Magic Summer Reading from Conjuring Arts Center!” →

Magic Law

The Mystery of the Magic Castle Trademark

Inside Magic Image of Magic Trademark LawyerWhat do magician Richard Bloch, a highly (pun intended) rated medicinal marijuana dispensary and the world famous home to the Academy of Magical Arts have in common? They each use the phrase “Magic Castle” in their names.

Mr. Bloch recently sought federal registration for the trademark “Magic Castle at Sea” to identify his particular brand of magic shows designed for cruise ships.

Magic Castle Solutions describes itself as a “North Hollywood Marijuana Dispensary” where customers can order a variety of different strains of the drug pursuant to their physician’s prescription.

“The Magic Castle” private club is also in Hollywood, California but likely does not sell any strain of marijuana with or without prior approval of one’s physician. Rather, the club is a place to enjoy the performance and teaching of the art of magic.

We support our magic habit by our day job as an intellectual property attorney and so the confluence of these three trademarks was the kind of thing about which we become giddy. We feel spiritually uplifted now that we have admitted we become giddy by such things and feel our relationship with you, the reader, has become more meaningful by our sharing.

Or maybe it’s the airplane glue we have been using to perform “Smoke from Fingertips” all night long.

But trademark law is fun with or without fumes of glue.

The purpose of a trademark is to identify the source of goods or services. That’s it.

Anyone can make bread, but a consumer looking for the taste and quality of Wonder Bread will look for loaves bearing that trademark first used in 1921. Consumers are confident Wonder Bread brand of will be the same when purchased in Los Angeles, California; Mystic Hollow, Michigan or DeFuniak Springs, Florida. Consumer confidence in the trademark is supported by civil and criminal laws to protect against counterfeiters; like rogue bakers selling bread with the Wonder Bread trademark.

Consumers interested in magic as a performing art have similarly associated the trademark MAGIC CASTLE with certain qualities. The castle offers visitors a chance to see magic performed from at least three different disciplines (close-up, parlor and stage) after enjoying a fine dinner and taking in the grand collection of magic memorabilia.

Continue reading “The Mystery of the Magic Castle Trademark” →

Magic Law, Magic News

Magic Patents Don’t Help: Learn from Horace Goldin

Inside Magic Image of Saturday Evening Post Advertisement from Camel CigarettesWe uploaded into the Inside Magic Library, the 1938 decision by the federal district trial court in the Southern District of New York dismissing Horace Goldin’s lawsuit against R.J. Reynold’s Tobacco for an injunction blocking their alleged exposure of Goldin’s trade secret for Sawing a Woman in Half.  You can see the decision here.

The Court’s decision was correct — Goldin was wrong and apparently didn’t even appear for the hearing.

The Court buys R.J. Reynold’s defense that it did not take Goldin’s secret.  The tobacco folks claimed they got their version of the secret by reading a book written by Inside Magic Favorite Author Walter B. Gibson.

We are publishing the decision to demonstrate an unfortunately frequent mistake of magicians.   A patent only keeps others from making the exact same illusion — it cannot protect the secret or even the idea behind the secret.

Mr. Goldin also failed to understand what is meant by “Trade Secret.”  This is still a common mistake made by magicians.   True, one can protect trade secrets under US intellectual property law but a trade secret must be secret first and foremost.

The method of performing a magic trick is not a trade secret if it is known by others — even if it is known only by magicians.  It may be a secret of the trade but that does not make it a trade secret.

A magician can protect a trade secret only if it is truly secret, he or she has taken the steps to protect the secret, and the person being sued had some agreement or contract with the magician to keep the secret.  Unless there was an agreement between the parties or there was some sort of special relationship between the parties where a court could conclude all agreed the secret was to be kept, there is no basis for a lawsuit.

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