On 1/15/07, Bryan Derksen <bryan.derksen(a)shaw.ca>
wrote:
I don't see how. Copyright covers a specific
tangible expression, not
the underlying ideas contained within it. One can make a movie out of a
book and then have the book be in public domain while the movie remains
copyrighted, for example. I think the sort of IP protection you're
thinking of is more along the lines of trade secret or patent law, which
as far as I can tell don't apply here.
That's why I'm mentioning the instructional videos and/or manuals as the
tangible expressed bit of the magic. The written instructions to magic trick
are copyrighted - no doubt.
Maybe. Some of these tricks have been around longer than the magicians
want to believe. That aside, the way in which the instructions are
written is copyright, but not the instructions themselves. If there is
only one way of writing the instructions the copyright could be void.
That's the merger principle.
Ec