Hope this in the right place.

Teller had Shadows copyrighted as a play. Have other magicians done this? And if not, why? Is the cost prohibitive? Too easy for others to create something derivative after the fact? No much magic is that original it warrants it? Only really suitable if you’re a Vegas star / top earner?

Any info would be great.

Thanks!

I would be surprised if Teller's copyright would cover method or even plot; a copyright generally only covers a very specific expression of an idea--the particular words and, perhaps, movements. The idea itself is not copyrightable. In other words, if I want to write a script about a giant shark that terrorizes summer beach goers...well stand in line.

Probably for magic, patent protection might be more applicable, the method as invention.

"A dramatic work is defined as a composition generally in prose or verse that portrays a story intended to be performed for an audience, while pantomimes and choreographic works typically include directed, organized movement by a performer with a story or theme conveyed throughout the movement, presented in front of an audience."

"Bakardy argued that the difference between his trick and Teller’s “Shadows” is really in the secret to performing the trick, to which the court responded by saying that it compares only the observable elements of the work in question, not the underlying mechanics that makes the work possible."


"According to internet rights attorney Doug Isenberg, Teller’s decision to copyright “Shadows” in the early 1980s is the best option for protection of magic tricks. Isenberg notes there are other ways to protect your work, but they all have drawbacks. The problem with patenting, for example, is that the nature of the patent application would require the applicant magician to divulge the secret behind a trick, while leaving the actual performance of the trick unprotected and vulnerable to copying. Through copyright, magicians can describe the entirety of the performance of the trick in great detail; they can include stage directions, set and lighting design, what props are used, even the specific flourishes and dramatic gestures the magician might want to include in the performance. Bakardy infringed because the performance of his trick appeared to be identical to Teller’s performance of “Shadows.” Whether they both employed the same techniques to make the trick actually happen is immaterial in this scenario, because copyright protects the expression of an idea, or the performance of a magic trick"





http://www.ipbrief.net/2020/10/26/copyri......shadows/