Tom Stone wrote:Bill Mullins wrote:MagicbyAlfred wrote:Good point. But I wonder who, if anyone, holds the copyright?
It makes no difference -- magic tricks generally aren't copyrightable.
That's simply not true, but is a lie mostly propagated by crooks.
A fair reading of your comment is that you are mostly calling me a crook. I'll assume that is not your intention.
I'll also amend my original post by saying "In America . . . ".
Otherwise, my statement stands. You can copyright a specific presentation of a trick (the patter), a well-defined character (Piff the Magic Dragon), a recording of a performance of a trick, a written description of a trick (lecture notes or a book), or original graphics used in a trick. But the trick itself is not copyrightable.
Reread Sara Crasson's article on copyright and magic tricks in Genii from June 2013.