The Artful Jurist

A question was asked about copyright as it relates to magicians and their illusions. The question was basically this:

A magician can publish a book that describes the method by which a magic trick is accomplished, and the words the magician uses in the book to describe that magic trick are protected by copyright. But what if another magician then takes the same idea for the trick, rewords the instructions, and publishes it in a different book or demonstrates on a TV show how the trick is done? Can the magician do that legally?

The short answer is: yes.

Section 102 of the United States copyright law specifically states that “in no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work.” That means, while you can copyright your exact phrasing for how to do something, you can’t copyright the how.

So pull as many rabbits out of your hat as you like. Even Harry Houdini couldn’t escape this rule.