Sara Crasson sez, “With the posts about magic recently, I thought you might be interested in an article I wrote about how intellectual property law applies to magicians (among other performers). In writing it, I thought I would establish that current protections were of limited benefit to magicians and then finish the piece by proposing enhanced protections that would help magicians, but as I thought about it, I got turned around. The article concludes with a section analyzing how the lack of legal protection benefits the art as a whole, how restricting access to magical techniques could make it impossible for magicians to create new tricks, and how internal social enforcement mechanisms could help reduce what magicians consider impermissible copying.”
THE LIMITED PROTECTIONS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
LAW FOR THE VARIETY ARTS: PROTECTING ZACCHINI,
HOUDINI, AND CIRQUE DU SOLEIL [PDF] [Moorad Sports Law Journal at Villanova Law School]