Postby Daryl » December 24th, 2003, 11:08 am
As I read over this post, I realize that its a bit long winded and Ive gone into more detail than was probably necessary. Having said that, I usually think its better to give more information than needed than not enough.
My good friend Rich Marotta mentioned to me the discussion about Dominique Duviviers Printing and my Presto Printo and suggested that I set the record straight. I just joined the Genii Forum so that I would have the opportunity to do just that.
Richard Kaufman in his post on November 29, 2003 was 100% correct. Of course I had marketing rights to sell Dominique Duviviers Printing effect. I purchased literally thousands of sets of cards from Dominique himself in order to sell them. I made my intentions very clear to Dominique before I began purchasing the cards. I would purchase the special cards from him, which I would include with his original instructions along with the instructions of my simplified handling for his effect. I planned to perform, teach this item in my lectures and I would sell it through my mail order business, at my lectures, and at magic conventions. At my lectures, I mentioned the idea of printing the last card with the pattern of your necktie or anything else youd card to duplicate. I believe it was Scotty York who came up with the idea of printing is face.
Over the years, I purchased several thousands of sets of cards from Dominique and I gave him probably between twenty and thirty thousand dollars worth of business. His discount price structure to me was interesting. I was to purchase a minimum of 300 sets per order and the price per set would be reduced by .50 a set for each subsequent order in each one year period. The price per set began, I believe, at $9.00 a set and the maximum discount would be $6.50 a set (this figure I know for sure). So the first order of 300 sets would be at $9.00 each ($2,700.00 plus shipping), the next order in the same 365 day period would be at $8.50 per set ($2,550.00 plus shipping), the third order at $8.00 per set ($2,400.00 plus shipping) etc. This would continue until I had reached the maximum discount level of $6.50 per set (300 x $6.50 = $1,950.00 plus shipping). As soon as the 365 day purchase period had ended, the price would go back up to $9.00 per set and the next purchasing year would begin.
There was probably a year or two when I never made it to the maximum discount level and I remember suggesting to Dominique that he consider selling me the cards at $6.50 per set if I agreed to purchase the sets in a much larger quantity all at once. Dominique did not agree to this idea. In my last year of doing business with Dominique, I did what I thought was the logical thing to do. I had reached the maximum discount level and I decided to purchase and additional 900 or 1,200 sets at the $6.50 price before the end of the current 365 day purchase period. I didnt need these cards, but sales had begun to slow down and I thought it would be smart to keep these in reserve as I felt that this would be my last order. Several months later, Dominique called me (actually, I think it was his daughter) and I was asked why I hadnt purchased any cards lately. I told her that I didnt need them anymore and this may have been when Dominique became convinced that I was printing the cards with Bicycle backs.
For the record, I have never printed Dominiques effect with Bicycle backs. There was a short period of time when I did sell a few sets with Bicycle backs, but I purchased these sets from Neil Lester of Cards by Martin. I felt that I did an honorable thing by only selling the special Bicycle sets to customers who had already purchased the original set which were printed on Atlantis cards and wanted to perform the routine with Bicycle cards. No instructions were included and they had to show me the original set and package before I would sell them the Bicycle set. Perhaps Dominique heard that I was selling Bicycle sets and he assumed that I was having them printed to avoid having to purchase the cards from him. If this is true, I think that this should have been the time for Dominique to contact me personally. He didnt.
I heard from several friends that Dominique made a comment on his Printing videotape that could easily be interpreted to imply that I was a thief. I dont have the video, but I believe he said something like I never gave Daryl the rights to market (or manufacture) this effect. This is true, he never did give me the rights to manufacture his trick and I never did. I did, however, have the rights to market his trick and in the process, I purchased several thousands of sets from him personally.
Years after my final purchase from Dominique, I released my effect Presto Printo. As was mentioned in a previous post, the first thing I wrote in the instructions was how my routine was inspired by Dominiques effect and I listed six differences or improvements between his routine and mine (there are actually several more). It was an exaggeration when I wrote in the instructions What I offer you now is as different from Printing by Dominique Duvivier as Printing is from the original Wild Card by Peter Kane. In retrospect, these were perhaps not the best words to use in order to make my point.
Not long after the release of Presto Printo, I was actually contacted by a lawyer representing Dominique Duvivier. The lawyer was told that I was infringing upon Dominiques rights to his Printing effect. I performed Dominiques original effect with his original handling for the lawyer in addition to my simplified handling and my Presto Printo effect. I then listed about a dozen or more differences between the two effects (not to mention the many differences in our handlings). The lawyer was completely satisfied that there were more than enough differences between our effects to prevent any legal action.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am honest and truthful perhaps to a fault if there is such a thing. If someone has an issue with me, I would much prefer that they contact me personally so that we can clear up the problem rather than assume I had the worst intentions and then air out these damaging opinions in public.
Daryl
