Dear Fellow Magicians,

I have read a through a thread in this discussion area on illusion plans. Several people have recommended the Osborne plans as well as the Carl Owen Book of illusion plans. While these resources are extremely valuable and present a great number of the classic effects, I am interested in finding plans for more contemporary illusions. Are plans available to the magic fraternity for the following Jim Steinmeyer illusions and, if so, where can they be found?

Pole Levitation
Interlude
Origami
Impaled (not Steinmeyer but Les Lavente, I think)

Thanks in advance for your responses.

Alfred

Hey Alfred, You can try to ask Jim if he sells plans but I would guess you won't have much luck as these illusions are still current effects. These are still making him money as he recieves royalties from contracted builders who handle exclusive building rights to these effects. It takes sometime before a creator would offer plans to the public for that opens the door to "public domain" issues which could cut the creator out of monies due. Ya get the idea. But it never hurts to ask. Last bit of advice, be careful of what you build and make sure you have the legal right to build/perform it. By respecting these rules keep creators such as myself in business.
Good luck!
Chance Wolf

Alfred,

I don't mean to rain on your parade. But I thinks it's best to buy them. I still don't think they are for sell. If you can't afford them new, try and look for them under "Let's make a deal." If you don't see them there, try E-Bay and http://www.magicauction.com

Thanks for the feedback guys. Very much appreciated.

Chance,
Great information, thanks. You brought up some very interesting points which raised some questions in my mind. Since inventors of these and other illusions most likely don't patent or copyright their method, in order to protect the secret, what mechanism do they have in place to protect their intellectual property? Also, related to Dynamike's comment about purchasing from magicauction.com - If one purchases an illusion that was not made by a contracted builder - can the purchaser/performer face legal reprocussions? Also, how do performance rights work and how are they enforced?

Alfred

Steinmeyer does have a patent on his Origami design.

I have spoken with Jim about buying such plans but I have not received answer yet.


I am sure all of us her can get into a BIG discussion on intellectual property and performance rights. Performance rights are usually paid to those who created the effect. By doing such you received the right to perform the illusion.

There are some magic builders out there. Not to play the name game. ( cough ,cough,TILFORD!) That make cheap nock offs of others designs without paying any royalty or rights. There is only so much you can do to protect your illusions and designs.

If worst comes to worse and you do go to court on such issues. It becomes the money game. Who ever out f the two who has the most money will win the case. Lawyers and so forth are not cheap.

I am sure someone can give you a better understanding on this subject.



Best,
Mike

Thanks, Mike.

In many cases, there isn't much a "creator" can do to stop an unauthorized version of his effect being built, and even when there are options, the costs in time and money may not make it worth it.

The biggest "mechanism" that designers have in place is trust in fellow magicians' integrity. Obviously, it doesn't always work, but it would be nice if everyone made honesty and integrity a priority.

We can only encourage everyone to do the right thing and stop finding ways to justify a lack of ethics.

Michael Messing

P.S. Doug Tilford does sell quite a few unauthorized "knock-offs", but he doesn't build them. Tilford is strictly a retailer. He buys the illusions wholesale and then sells them. (He doesn't usually stock the illusions. He has them drop shipped.)

Not that this excuses him from knowingly selling the knock-offs, I just wanted to make sure no one thought that he is a builder.

Thanks for the clarification on that matter.

Doug Tilford gets his stuff from a guy that is overseas. I posted the website so you can see the *****ty work he produces.


http://www.dominikmagic.com/

Go to the showroom…


Mike

Wow...I went to that web-site. That guy is ripping off a lot of great illusions. That's a real shame.

You can find good plans in Osborne's "illusion" if u want a levitation try gamollo levitation, all the effect are almos the same, base, doblewall, etc, create, talk with designers and make variation on the older triks