On 2007-08-02 06:46, STEPHANE-ARNOW wrote:
...
In this case, copies ruins ...the creator only ...

One more time, I want to ask to the US builders : for some illusions, please sell licenses to Europeans and Asian builders (good builders only), and the problem will be stopped.

Illusions + shipping + taxes import give prices which open the rip off market.
If you sell licenses, the creator will be paid and the creator can keep an eye of his design. Even a license paid year by year, to follow the quality !

Shipping and taxes (taxes particularly!) are very high. This is a form of protectionism that I understand, but make a reflexion about this idea.

Because there is no license to build (sorry, only in Australia with OZ illusions! but it is still far from Europe, but I salute that, which show that is possible) , there is only in Europe Dominikmagic illusions...or worse... And, right, I never seen 1 illusion shop in Europe (not even 1!) who sells some real American illusions.

So don't erase this post; I just want to open a discussion: there is good builders in Europe and in Asia (because some of them, not all ok, but some of them [b]knows building great illusions standards, and sometimes 'good' copies- good is about the building only not about the idea stolen of course). So why not give possibilities to sell licenses??? It will be the end of the problem.

And same for US customers who wants, for example, buying an illusion from Europe: Chalet has the license by Pushinger for Minicub zag!! But Pushinger or others builder don't have license for Origami, or Interlude, etc....!

And if someone in USA wants a [b]Yogano illusion, it will be cheaper to build it in USA with an authorized builder who has the license, than import it from Europe. Creators will be paid.

I open the discussion.

On 2007-08-02 08:14, STEPHANE-ARNOW wrote:
That is why the licenses urgently must be sold; the illusions will be build not per pictures- but with the real plans from the creators-and will be best, and the creators will be paid.

There is no other solution I think

On 2007-08-02 08:33, JoyJoy wrote:
Arnow you are correct - it would be a great help to have one (and only one) authorized builder in Europe. But it would´t save really much I guess - maybe it would save the shipping costs (compare the costs of Puchinger's MiniCubZack and the American authorized versions).
But I can understand the creators also, they maybe fear even more copies, cause they feel like loosing more control over it.

On 2007-08-05 16:03, Blair Marshall wrote:
One comment that has been mentioned is the fact that perhaps Jim S. et al should consider licensing a reputable builder in some of the various geographic areas i.e., Europe, Asia, the Far East. When the Canadian dollar was $1.65 USD I actually considered opening a shop to produce illusions here. We had actually costed out a series of standard, and some unique illusions. We even spoke with Jim S. at the time about building illusions from his various writings, and he was very generous on rights. At that time I even discussed obtaining the rights to Origami to produce strictly for the Canadian and overseas market. We even offered, prior to going into production, to build a unit, and ship it to Jim for his approval. (At our cost, but no go!).

I do think this is one solution to ensure a quality product is getting out there, that the originator gets credit, and some $$$$, and it removes a large incentive to those dealers that would rip off and manufacture the illusion themselves.

To give perspective to an American reader, when the CDN dollar was at its lowest, point an illusion purchased from the U.S. would have added to the cost 65% exchange, 15% taxes, plus the transport cost, again in U.S. dollars!! Therefore the $8000.00 USD Origami, ended up costing close to $16,000.00 CDN, and now 4-5 years later, we are almost at par, and the buyer would have lost $8000.00 in value. Trust me on this, it is not fun, I purchased the "ShaZzam!" show when the currencies were at their furthest apart!!

Anyway, I do think licensing is one way to go, if the big guys can set up factories, license their products to be built in other countries, I do not see why the magic business cannot be done in the same manner.

On 2007-08-05 20:54, Timothy Drake wrote:
Blair... I think your idea of building such props to be shipped directly in Canada was a great idea. I remember those crazy US/Canadian currency exchange rates. Maybe we will see that happen someday. Until then any exchange rate in any foreign country does not justify the theft of intellectual property. A good friend just visited from Finland. He was never able to afford an Origami either... and guess what... he didn't buy a knockoff. In fact he's been in this thread defending Jim Steinmeyer's rights.

On 2007-08-07 14:09, MagicErik wrote:
There is one thing I would like to add... I live in Holland, Europe. When I would want to buy an original Steinmeyer-Origami I would have to do quite some work to get one. There are thousands of knockoff and close to zero legitimate Origami's. If I was Steinmeyer and would do something about all these cheap knockoff I would start with assuring people can buy the real ones.... It's a small world these days. You can order anything online worldwide, you can see your relatives on webcams... Everything is possible but when you would want to buy a real Origami.... while you can order many of the knockoffs online with just a view mouseclicks... A guy like Steinmeyer can shout whatever he wants but he could start with an authorized shop in Europe and perhaps Asia.... That's what I would do.....

...

I have to agree with Timothy, the best thing you can do is buy a legitimate illusion. I would only hope there would be more and easier ways to buy these....
A friend of mine bought a legitimate illusion. A standard thing, nothing special. He will get it somewhere in approx. 2.5 months from now.... He needs it for a company-gig. When he would not have the time to wait so long he would have to find some other way to do this. That could mean buying an illusion that does the same thing, looks the same and can be delivered from for instance Germany within a couple of days... I always wondered why these people with all their rights etc make it so hard for people to buy their stuff.. But hey that's my opinion...

On 2007-08-07 17:04, MagicErik wrote:
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Let's say I would want to buy a bucket. And I have 10 choices. Only the yellow buckets are made in the factory that is allowed to make them. The other ones have different colors but these are the ones that you can buy all over the world in thousands of stores. You can buy them online, they are in stock in most of the shops and they are much cheaper than the original yellow ones.... The yellow buckets can only be bought in two shops in the USA and you can't order them online, you have to make phone calls, fax, bookings from your bank account... And the delivery time can be up to a couple of months... The only thing that is in the favour of the yellow bucket is that it is an original yellow bucket. There are other shops that can deliver you the same ball, in every way except that it is a red or a blue bucket... They can send it to you today, for a lower price of the yellow one....
There is more to it than just say don't buy knockoffs. I DO AGREE that everyone should (read must) buy the original illusions from the official builders. But I also do understand some of the illusionists who for some reason buy copies. Saying that everyone should buy the real thing in my opinion also means giving these people the opportunity to buy the legit illusions instead of the knockoff. On this planet with billions of people there are 3 places, close together, where you can buy an original Steinmeyer-Origami. In my opinion that is not doing good business..... It would become a strange world if Nike or Coca Cola would use the same strategy. That you could only buy their products directly from their 1 factory and nowhere else. When you don't fill in the market someone else will start selling Nikes and Coca Cola. The same with illusions. That's my opinion, my thoughts about this.. lol.

On 2007-08-14 16:25, Pete Biro wrote:
EVI.... why not push the builders in your region to create their own new illusions?

On 2007-08-14 16:25, Pete Biro wrote:
EVI.... why not push the builders in your region to create their own new illusions?

On 2007-08-09 11:57, Blair Marshall wrote:
Glad someone started this post, perhaps a designer, or builder will take heed.

There is $$$$$ out there.